BY CHRISTOFLE ET CIE, PARIS, DATED 1870-1873

From its creation in France in the mid 19th century, the firm Christofle has been celebrated for its elaborate table services, luxurious objets d’art, and finely crafted arts décoratifs, such as the present lot. Charles Christofle (1805-1863), its founder, was initially trained as a jeweller and, in 1842-1843, acquired the rights to exclusive use of galvanoplastie – a technique of applying thin coats of gold and silver to bronze through electroplating – from silversmiths, Elkington and Ruolz. This technique enabled the firm to create lavish and ambitious sculptures and works of art including the celebrated surtout de table commissioned by Emperor Napoléon III, La France distribuant des couronnes de gloire, later presented at the 1878 Paris Exposition universelle and today in the Musee des Arts-Décoratifs, Paris (7023.A). The rights to galvanoplastie ultimately proved immensely profitable for the firm, and led to many important commissions.
The combination of the present bowl, or patère, and tripod is quite rare, with the only other known example in Christofle’s own collection. The patère is modelled after an ancient Roman sacrificial bowl found at Hildesheim, Germany. On 17 October 1868, a hoard of some 70 pieces of Roman silver dating from the first century AD was found at Hildesheim. The discovery of these treasures and the nineteenth century taste for historical design inspired numerous silver manufacturers, including the luxury firm Christofle, who cast the original models in order create protypes for their finely executed electrotype reproduction. As one art critic noted, 'La reproduction, très-habile, donne l'idée la plus hereuse et la plus juste d'un très-précieux original' (Les arts industriels : Vienne, Londres, Paris / Louis Enault, 1877, p. 151). Minerve proved a popular model for the firm and was displayed at the at the 1869 Exposition de l'Union Centrale des Beaux-Arts and the 1873 Vienna Exposition. Interestingly, an example of the patère was donated to the musée de Cluny in 1871 by Christofle and Bouilhet, presumably as an addition the museums collection of Roman art, which is now conserved in the musée d’Orsay (inv. DO 1985 5).
It was de rigeur in the 19th century for two pieces to be combined to create a new object, and thus the patère was combined with an existing gueridon model. The repoussé tripartite base was designed by the architect and designer Charles Rossigneux (1816-1909) in the fashionable revivalist ‘néo-grec’ style. It was first exhibited at 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle with a plateau supporting a tea service, only to be re-paired and displayed with the ‘Antique’ patère several years later at the 1878 Exposition.