Lot 284
284
A PAIR OF FRENCH SILVER-PLATED COPPER ORNAMENTAL VASES

Details
A PAIR OF FRENCH SILVER-PLATED COPPER ORNAMENTAL VASES
SIGNED CHRISTOFLE & CIE., PARIS, CIRCA 1873

Of tapering cylindrical form, raised on a circular gilt pedestal on four pad supports applied at the corners with silver-plated peacocks, the flaring sides with continuous silver-plated decoration of bands and panels of arabesques and foliage between scrolls all on a copper ground, with two scroll pendant ring handles, the bases engraved Christofle & Cie.--10in.(25.5cm.) high (2)

Lot Essay

These vases were designed for the 1873 World's Fair, L'Exposition Universelle de Vienne. The theme of Christofle's exhibit at the exposition was "l'Orient et de l'Occident," and these vases illustrate Eastern influence in both form and ornament. The use of copper to create a colored surface pattern was a new technique characteristic of aesthetic-movement taste. One of the present vases, or a matching example, is illustrated in Henri Bouilhet, Christofle: Silversmith Since 1830, 1981, p. 139.

[photo caption for B&W:] Woodcut illustartion of Christofle's display at the Vienna Exposition of 1873.