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Table and silverware

The housewife under fifty much likes the similarly-named ménagère (canteen of cutlery). But table- and silverware auctions feature fine antique cutlery sets in silver or vermeil, containing table forks and knives, coffee and dessert spoons, sugar tongs and pie servers, meticulously presented in a fine box.traditional silverware with shell or filet patterns and remarkable pieces by silversmiths in the rocaille (odiot) or art deco styles (puiforcat, christofle, etc.) Feature in these online auctions, with dinner services in porcelain (sèvres, meissen, limoges) or earthenware (moustiers, gien, nevers), which include dinner, soup and dessert plates, tureens and sauce boats.
Not to mention "top-glass" sets of glasses and carafes in baccarat, saint-louis and daum crystal, which rival with ornamental pieces for presenting and serving sweet substances: ewers, sweet jars, sugar dredgers, jam pot, and the like.
Did you know ?
One ornamental piece that still exists today is the champagne bucket: an item that regularly appears in drouot auctions.

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Felix BRACQUEMOND (Paris, 1833 - Sèvres, 1914) & Manufacture Creil & Montereau Important part of a dinner service known as "Rousseau à Peigné" - model created in 1866 Composed of ninety-nine earthenware pieces with white background, polychrome decoration and scalloped edges: - eighty-three plates, - eight pedestal tables, - three round dishes, - two oval dishes, - two ravioli dishes, - a salad bowl Most published by Lebeuf & Millet, between 1866 and 1875 Marked "E. Rousseau à Paris" for Eugène Rousseau Marked "Creil LM & Cie Montereau", "Lebeuf & Millet". Various sizes (Small chips and missing parts) An important part of a faience service "Rousseau à Peigné" including ninetynine pieces by Félix Bracquemond for Manufacture Creil & Montereau - model created in 1866 Bibliography : Masseau, Annick and Didier, L'Escalier de Cristal, Le luxe à Paris 1809-1923, 2021, p. 136-137 for an identical model. Exhibitions : Bouillon, Jean-Paul (dir.), cat. exp. Félix et Marie Bracquemond, Mortagne et Musée des beaux-arts de Chartres,1972, p. 25 for our model Borowitz, Helen O. (dir.), exhibition catalogue, Japonisme: Japanese influence on French Art 1854-1910, Cleveland Museum, 1975, p. 157-158 for an identical model Van Rappard-Boon, Charlotte (dir.), cat. exp. exhibition, Félix Bracquemond: 1833-1914, Van Gogh Museum,1994, p. 12-17 for an identical model Duncan, Alastair (dir.), cat. exp. Louis C. Tiffany, The Garden Museum Collection, 2004, p. 632-633 for an identical model Bouillon, Jean-Paul (dir.), Félix Bracquemond, 1833-1914, graveur et céramiste, cat. exp. exhibition, Cabinet cantonal des estampes à Vevey, Fondation Neumann à Gingis, 2003-2004, p. 66-94 for our model Bouillon, Jean-Paul (dir.), cat. exp. Félix Bracquemond et les arts décoratifs. Du japonisme à l'Art nouveau (Limoges, Musée national Adrien Dubouché, April 5 - July 4, 2005, then in Selb-Plössberg, Deutsches Porzellanmusem, July 25 - October 25, 2005, then in Beauvais, Musée départemental de l'Oise, November 16, 2005 - February 13, 2006), p. 45-65 for our model. Felix BRACQUEMOND (Paris, 1833 - Sèvres, 1914)

Estim. 10,000 - 15,000 EUR

RARE PETITE CUILLÈRE EN ARGENT AUX ARMES DE L’EMPEREUR NAPOLÉON IER PAR BIENNAIS PROVENANT DU PILLAGE DE LA BERLINE - Filet coffee spoon, silver 1st title (950 thousandths), the handle stamped with the large arms of Emperor Napoleon I. Paris, 1809-1819. 2nd cock title mark and Minerve head guarantee mark. Goldsmith's hallmark of Martin-Guillaume BIENNAIS (1764-1843). Austrian General Control Mark, Saint Polten, 1810-1822. L. 14.2 cm. Weight: 30.5 g. Provenance - Napoleon I's dinner service. - Taken during the looting of the Emperor's sedan on the evening of June 18, 1815. - Private collection, Paris. Exhibition Napoleon's sedan, the mystery of the spoils of Waterloo. Musée de la Légion d'Honneur, March 7 to July 8, 2012, p. 261 (illustrated). History Martin Guillaume Biennais is considered one of France's greatest silversmiths. Under the Empire, he was the goldsmith of the imperial court and, above all, the official goldsmith of Emperor Napoleon I. In 1802, he obtained exclusive rights to supply the Emperor's table. He produced a vermeil service and a silver service, which were completed in 1810 and 1811. All pieces received an inventory number engraved by Biennais in September 1812, so our unnumbered spoon is later than this date. Coffee spoons from the surviving silver service are extremely rare, as we know that all the silver remaining in France was melted down in the 19th century, notably by Napoleon III. Thus, the remaining silverware can only have come from St. Helena or from the looting of the sedan at Waterloo (see Exhibition catalog, La berline de Napoléon, le mystère du butin de Waterloo. Musée de la Légion d'Honneur, March 7 to July 8, 2012, article by Anne Dion, p. 259). Our spoon, bearing the famous Austrian General de Saint Polten control mark, therefore comes from the looting of the sedan on the evening of June 18, 1815 (all the silver taken from the sedan was later re-punched). The Emperor, caught in the traffic jam caused by the rout, had to leave his sedan in a hurry, leaving behind his bicorne and numerous personal effects, including his silverware. Prussian troops led by Blücher looted the sedan and shared the spoils. An inventory by Louis XVIII's Intendant des Dépenses, Forestier, shows that the losses of "silverware that fell to the Allies in June 1815" were enormous, and included "33 teaspoons", making them rare compared with "104 knives" and "99 pieces of cutlery". Our spoon is thus one of the thirty-three looted at Waterloo in June 1815. Related works - An Emperor's cutlery set with a knife from the Berline, Millon sale, May 26, 2023, lot 141 (sold for €62,400). - A cutlery from the looting of the Berline, sold at Kâ-Mondo, June 24, 2015, lot 147 (sold for €31,000). - A spoon from the Emperor's service, in a case, with autograph label signed by Joseph Bonaparte, brother of the Emperor "Tiré du nécessaire de l'Empereur: donné par moi, à mon neveu François Clary. 1839". Sale April 24, 2011, Maître Bailleul (Bayeux). - A set of five table spoons, five table forks, three teaspoons and six table knives, sold at Christie's, Paris, December 19, 2007, lot 173 (sold for €162,000).

Estim. 4,000 - 6,000 EUR

BEAURAIN, Jean-Baptiste Jacques de ; [GRIMOARD, Philippe-Henri de] Histoire des quatre dernières campagnes du maréchal de Turenne en 1672, 1673, 1674 & 1675, enrichie de cartes et de plans topographiques [...]. Paris chevalier de Beaurain 1782 2 vols, folio: [4]-viii-217-[1] pp., [1] f.; 21 (of 24) pl. (foxing, some ff. sl. browned, marg. damp stain on title of vol. II, sm. tears without lack to some fold. maps, one map loose, last one part. detached). Contemp. marbled or mottled calf, triple gilt-ruled fillets on boards, gilt-orn. spine with raised bands, red edges (text vol.) (re-used contemp. binding for text vol., very rubbed, heads and tails missing, joints (part.) split). First edition of the relation of the last campaigns led by Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne-Bouillon, vicomte de Turenne (1611-1675, killed during the battle of Salzbach), one of the best generals of Louis XIII and Louis XIV. In this copy the plates are bound in a separate volume, containing 21 (of 24) hand-coloured plates (11 on double page and 10 fold.), 3 with movable parts, showing battles (Sintzheim, Entzheim, Turkheim, Altenheim), fortified towns (Burick, Arheim, Voorne, Crèvecoeur, Bommel...), maps (Germany, Lorraine and Alsace, Rhine...). The text vol. is illustrated with 5 headpieces after Eisen fig. battles and 2 identical tailpieces by Baquoy. The topographical description are by de Beaurain and the historical one are by Grimoard. With the subscribers' list. Ref. Conlon XX:86. - Not in Cohen.

Estim. 400 - 500 EUR