HUGIJENOT ARTISTS DESIGNERS AND CRAYPSNEN IN GREAT ...

11.2.
The full significance of the connections between watchmaking and
jewellery as practised by the Huguenot refugees is seen in the patent
taken out by the Huguenot watchmakers Peter and James Debaufre in 170k
for ' a Certain new Art or Invention or working & Figuring precious
or more common stones & certain other matters different from Nettalls
so that they may be Imployed and made use of in Clockwork or watchwork
and many other Engines; not for ornament only, but as Internall and
useful part of the Work or Engine it self in such manner as have not
here to fore been used, and very much conducing to the greater perfection
of Watches and clocks.'7?
The close community in which the Huguenot craftsmen lived and. worked,
enabled them to exchange talents to an extent which was unprecedented in
native craftsmanship. Thus engravers,, who were designers in their own
right, embellished plate, watches and guns, combining with silversmiths,
watchmakers and gunmakers to produce work of a standard not known before
in Great Britain and Ireland.
The Huguenot engravers, like their fellow craftsmen in silver and
wrought iron, brought to their craft a technical mastery not yet
attained by native engravers. The engravers, such as Gribelin, who produced
pattern books tended to rely, like the first generation silversmiths
and gatesmiths, on outdated sources of designs. It was only with the deve-
lopement of native patronage, which came to expect the latest developements
in French taste, that the second generation craftsmen, like the great
silversmith, Paul de Lamerie, incorporated the latest styles into their
work. The Huguenot contribution to engraving is so varied, that it is
not possible to define a style as such. The engravers, like the other
craftsmen in metal, brought to this country a knowledge of the French
tradition in their respective fields, combined with a technical mastery,
and a willingness to undertake whatever contemporary patronage expected
from them.