Catalog: Antiques: Decorative Art (485)

A delightful early 19th century French silver tastevin featuring a 1770 Louis XV coin and a wonderfully decorated handle. The handle decoration depicts a man seated atop a wine barrel grasping a wine bottle in one hand and a Cupid's arrow in the other. The design is completed with the legend "Vive l'amour et le vin" ("Long live love and wine."). This type of handle was developed in the early 1700s and was used mostly in the Burgundy region. The use of real silver coins as a decorative element is seen in tastevins dating from the mid-1700s onwards. The handle is stamped with 19th century hallmarks.

Origin: France, ca. 1840. Condition: excellent; 2 pinpoints to the bowl and a slight ding along the edge opposite the handle. Dimensions: 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 x 7/8 inches. Weight: 95.0 grams.

Very nice glass calabash in aqua blue. One side features hands clasped across a patriotic shield surrounded by stars and olive branches and the word "Union". The other side is decorated with an American eagle grasping a banner, shield, arrows and olive branches. The calabash has a polished pontil on the bottom and an applied lip at the neck.

Origin: America, mid-19th century. Condition: excellent, no cracks or chips, nice molded detail, the pontil has some brownish surface discoloration. Size: 9-1/8" tall.

A macabre bronze figural cigar cutter in the form of a guillotine. The perfectly detailed guillotine includes a movable “bascule” and “lunette”. On the full-size models, these were the portions to which the victim was strapped and tilted into the machine and the part with a hole that surrounded the neck to hold the head still. In this case, a cigar is laid on the bascule and the lunette closes around the very tip of the cigar. When the rope is released, the heavy blade drops, lopping off the tip which falls into the bucket underneath. The bronze elements are entirely hand-fashioned and are mounted on a simple mahogany base. Incidentally, cigar cutters, regardless of their shapes, are often called “guillotines” in France.

Origin: France, ca. 1860. Condition: excellent, even the rope appears to be original. Size: 8” tall.

A classic 19th century French silver tastevin of traditional form and the bottom inset with a silver coin from the reign of Louis XV. The sides of the tastevin are decorated with the traditional raised "perles" and recessed "cupules" for viewing the depth of color in a wine. The coin, dating to 1726, depicts the profile of the king surrounded by the legend "Louis XV, by grace of God, king of France and Navarre." The reverse of the coin can be seen from the bottom of the tastevin. The taster is completed with a handle in the form of a single coiled snake. Stamped with an illegible maker's mark.

Origin: France, ca. 1850. Condition: excellent, sharp detail to the tastevin, typical wear to the coin. Dimensions: 3-5/16" x 4-5/16" x 1". Weight: 95.4 grams.

A tour-de-force first standard (950/1000 pure silver) tastevin by silversmith Stanislas Pollet celebrating Napoleon’s great victory at the Battle of Wagram. The tastevin is inset with a Napoleonic silver medal surrounded by fleur-de-lis engraving. The outer edges are enhanced with ornate strapwork (a technique particularly mastered by Pollet) depicting fleur-de-lis and acanthus leaves. The entire design is set off with a pair of magnificently cast and engraved dolphins forming the handle.

Napoleon, never particularly known as a shrinking violet, enjoyed commissioning medals from the Paris Mint to celebrate his victories and various life landmarks. The front of the medal (showing from the top of the tastevin) depicts the river god of the Danube being forced by the Emperor to carry a wooden pontoon bridge laden with French cannons over the river towards the Imperial Austrian capital, Vienna. The Latin inscription translates as, “Danubius, indignant at the breach/Battle of Essling/May 22, 1809.” The reverse (showing from the bottom of the tastevin) depicts the French army marching across the bridge at Wagram, urged on by the goddess of Victory carrying a laurel wreath and pointing the way. The inscription translates as, “Again crossing at the same place/July 5, 1809.” The Battle of Essling was the first defeat of the French army under Napoleon’s direct control, but that fact is obscured by combining it with the Battle of Wagram, just forty-four days later. This latter battle was one of the emperor’s greatest victories and was the largest battle in European history up to that time. The medal was created at the Paris Mint by the medalist Nicolas-Guy-Antoine-Brenet under the supervision of Baron Dominique Vivant Denon, who was Napoleon’s artistic director and to whom the emperor entrusted the Louvre after turning it into a museum. A single copy of the medal was struck in gold for Napoleon’s personal collection. Silver medals were given as gifts to the emperor’s friends and diplomats and bronze versions were available to those of lower rank.

• Origin: France, 1899-1903
• Condition: excellent, sharp detail
• Dimensions: 3-1/2” x 4-5/8” x 1-1/4”
• Weight: 201.4 grams

Stunning cut Bohemian glass powder jar with top-notch polychrome enameling. The lid is decorated with a wonderful scene of an 18th century gentleman surrounded by bowers of flowers. The sides of the jar are decorated with a wreath of flowers and acanthus leaves. The sides are cut in a St-Louis diamond pattern. The rims of both the jar and the lid are gilt. The bottom of the jar is cut with oval printies alternating with mitres. Unsigned, but definitely the work of Lobmeyr.

Origin: Bohemia, circa 1890. Condition: excellent, no chips or cracks, no missing enamel, only the most minimal wear to gilding (less than 5%). Size: 3-1/2" diam., 2-5/8" tall.

Lovely Louis XVI style sterling silver fish slice. The elegant spade-shaped matte vermeil blade is engraved with the crossed quiver and torch design originally popular in the late 18th century. The blade and handle are marked by the maker, Pot & Cie., and the handle is marked with a French silver hallmark.

Origin: France, ca. 1890. Condition: very good; a bit of discoloration on the blade and very light wear on the handle. Size: 12-1/2" long.

Elegant pair of large sterling silver salad servers in Frank Whiting’s 1893 “Tyrolean” pattern. This is one of the simpler Victorian designs and works nicely with a wide variety of other patterns. The pieces are quite heavy. The backs are marked with Whiting’s second hallmark.

Origin: America, ca. 1930. Condition: excellent, sharp detail, no monogram. Size: spoon, 9” long; fork, 9-3/16” long. Weight: 196.5 grams.

A wonderful Staffordshire pottery cow creamer standing on a oval base. The cow is decorated with rust spots on the white background and the horns are gilt. The oval base is decorated as a grassy outcropping. Cow creamers were very popular in the early 19th century and were produced by a number of potters in Staffodshire, Wales and southern Scotland. This example is from the Staffordshire region.

Origin: England, ca. 1850. Condition: excellent, no damage. Size: 6-3/8" x 3" x 4-3/4".

A very nice mauchline ware wooden hinged box decorated with seven Washington, DC scenes. American scenes are more difficult to find than English or Scottish scenes, and to find seven different images of the Washington DC area is most uncommon. The box retains its original blue silk lining. With the exception of Mount Vernon, all the buildings had been completed only 5-15 years before this piece was produced.

Origin: Scotland, ca. 1890. Dimensions: 7 x 4-7/8 x 3-7/8 inches.

A marvelous and very rare Victorian patchbox, the body carved from a single piece of ivory and the cut crystal lid enclosing a cameo incrustation (“sulphide”) depicting a pansy. A ribbon tied around the flower’s stem reads “a moi”. This is a clever play on words. The French word for pansy is “pensé”, which is very nearly the same word used to mean “thought”. So, when combined with the words on the ribbon, the sulphide expresses the sentiment “Thoughts of me”. This is one of the most interesting pieces we’ve seen using the sentimental Victorian language of flowers. The gilt silver fittings are stamped with Portuguese hallmarks, but the sulphide lid is most definitely French—almost certainly by Baccarat.

Origin: France and Portugal, ca. 1890. Condition: excellent, a very small line in the ivory at the side, superb patina. Size: 2-1/4” diameter.

PLEASE NOTE: This item cannot be shipped outside the United States.

Very attractive Victorian lacquered papier-mache soap box decorated with a japonaise design. The sides show laborers pulling a boat filled with partiers along a canal. The lid shows a kneeling maiden tending her flower garden in a classic Japanese garden. The lid is also decorated with the soap maker's logo. Japanese styled items were very popular in France from around 1870 until the end of the century.

Origin: France, ca. 1880. Condition: excellent. Size: 3-11/16" x 2-5/16" x 1-3/4" high.

A matching box is available.

A stunning cut double-overlay white/cranberry/clear cologne bottle, mostly likely by the New England Glass Company. The broad base is slightly footed and decorated with opaque white casing cut in a classic foral vine pattern to a transparent rose-cranberry base. The panel-cut tapered neck is enhanced with a faceted applied ring. The open-top tulip-form stopper has a long knopped neck and white/cranberry panel cutting on the petals. The concave base is polished.

Origin: America, 1850-70. Condition: a 1/16" flake on an upper edge of the stopper visible on careful examination in raking light. Dimensions: 3-3/4" wide; 6-1/2" high.

A nice example of an antique scrambled glass paperweight by the New England Glass Company. The set-up contains a colorful variety of complex canes, filigree and twists in a nicely compact grouping. There are least three complex canes with white eagle silhouettes against a field of dark purple. There are no annealing problems and few bubbles in the set-up. The glass of the dome has good color and clarity. The bottom is concave with a basal ring.

Origin: America, ca. 1865. Condition: excellent, a fairly light ½-in scratch to the dome, no dings. Dimensions: diameter, 2-7/8 in; height, 1-13/16 in.

An elegant sterling silver trumpet vase with an opaque glass liner by either Jenkins or Armiger for F. Bucher & Sons. This silver is ornately decorated wthroses, forget-me-nots, wild roses, chamomiles and daises against a stippled background. Bucher was a retailer who stamped wares with his own mark, even though they were actually made by Jenkins, Armiger, Schofield or other leading Baltimore silversmiths of the day. The treatment of the chamomile blossoms and the use of cyma scrolls in the narrow borders are distinctly similar to Jenkins’ work, but the use of ferns amongst the foliage is more often seen in Armiger’s. The liner is opaque white glass with a translucent pink border at the undulating, flaring rim, and appears to be original. The base is marked “F. Bucher & Sons. Sterling”.

Origin: America, ca. 1900. Condition: excellent, sharp detail. Size: 10-3/8” tall. Silver Weight: 161.4 grams.

A gorgeous pair of Victorian sterling silver serving spoons, the handles and bowls amazingly decorated with repousse, chased and engraved designs. The handles are decorated with reserves of winged cherubs hanging garlands of flowers, the reserves surrounded by rococo shell motifs. The stems are decorated with floral garlands leading to the amazing decorative bowls, covered in repousse floral designs. The backs of the handles are as attractive as the fronts and are engraved with a very handsome three-letter monogram. The spoons are fully hallmarked for London, 1894, and bear a script maker’s mark “AB” or “AR”. These spoons are extremely heavy, and are of the absolutely finest quality being produced at the end of the 19th century.

Origin: England, 1894. Condition: excellent, very sharp detail. Size: 8-7/16” long. Weight: 164.0 grams.

Elegant Napoleon III ivory letter opener and book mark with a French silver handle with repousse decoration. The piece serve as a paper cutter or letter opener, but the double blade can slip over the edge of a page to serve as a book mark. The handle is decorated in a foral pattern and has a reserve which was never monogramed. The end has a loop so that the opener/mark could have a ribbon attached or so that it could be worn from a chatelaine. The handle is marked with French silver hallmarks.

Origin: France, ca. 1870. Condition: excellent, a tiny nick at the very point of the ivory. Size: 5-29/32" long.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ITEM CANNOT BE SHIPPED OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.

Very rare sterling silver oyster ladle in Whiting's classic 1880 "Bead" pattern. The simplicity of the handle decoration is relieved by the ruffled edge of the bowl. It's simplicity enables the pattern to work with a wide range of other American Colonial-inspired patterns. The oyster ladle form is quite rare, as only the most complete silver services ever had such serving pieces. Hallmarked with Whiting's early hallmark and "Pat Appd For" (indicating an early date).

Origin: America, 1880. Condition: excellent, no monogram, sharp detail, a pinpoint ding in the bowl. Size: 10-1/2" long. Weight: 120.0 grams.