PUIFORCAT, PARIS, CIRCA 1985

Details

A FRENCH SILVER FIVE-PIECE TEA AND COFFEE SERVICE WITH TRAY
PUIFORCAT, PARIS, CIRCA 1985
Based on a François Thomas Germain model, comprising: a teapot, coffee pot, hot milk pot, cream jug and covered sugar bowl; each spiral-fluted baluster, on scroll feet with coffee leaf and berry spouts, the covers with berry cluster finial, the ivory handles carved with trellis work; the tray shaped oval, with reeded border and coffee berry and leaf handles, the field engraved with fluting and foliate quatrefoils, each marked on body and cover, engraved Puiforcat Paris under base; the tray marked on border and reverse
The tray 35 in. (88.9 cm.) long, the coffee pot 10 7/8 in. (27.6 cm.) high; 658 oz. (20,491 gr.) gross weight (6)

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

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Lot Essay

In 1756, during his nearly twenty year-long career as French royal silversmith, the celebrated François Thomas Germain designed a large dinner service in this pattern for Joseph I of Portugal. An early coffee pot in this style, 1756-1757, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, served as a model for the six pots that were eventually fashioned for the Portuguese royal service, one of which is now held by the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon.

The tray in the present example exhibits panels of fluting and tied reeded borders which are part of the same Germain style, and can be seen in a small tray for cosmetic pots, dated 1750-1756, in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu.

Germain's tray and coffee pots are illustrated in Christiane Perrin, François Thomas Germain orfèvre des rois, 1993, p.111, pp. 178-179.

A Puiforcat coffee pot in this style is illustrated in Vanessa Brett, Sotheby's Directory of Silver 1600-1940, 1986, p. 385.

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