George Michael Moser (1706–83) was the pre-eminent gold chaser in London from the late 1730s to the 1770s, a period when chasing was the dominant style of decoration for London watches, and when British horology was regarded as the best in Europe.
Moser’s known career played out entirely in London. Born in Switzerland, he came to England as a young man in 1726 to make his fortune. After working first for a coppersmith and then as a maker of furniture mounts, he later became established as the finest gold-chaser of his generation and a dynamic member of the artistic community. As well as being an accomplished chaser and an influential painter in enamel, he also helped to transform the teaching of art in London, giving instruction at the St Martin’s Lane Academy and at the Royal Academy. He taught many notable artists, including William Blake. He was one of the four future academicians who petitioned George III to give his patronage to an academy and he became its first keeper.
In his obituary of Moser, Sir Joshua Reynolds paid tribute to him as a gold chaser of ‘the first rank’, as the inaugural keeper of the Royal Academy who ‘possessed a universal knowledge in all the branches of painting and sculpture which perfectly qualified him for the place that he held’, and as ‘father of the present race of Artists’ because of his key role in the early academies. Moser’s work as chaser and enameller was admired by members of the royal family and both he and his daughter, Mary Moser, were personally known to them. In 1802 George III feared that he would never see ‘such a Keeper as Moser, who had zeal as well as ability’.