Description

French Gallia Silver Plate

From our Silver collection, we are pleased to offer this Christofle Art Deco Silver Plate Swan Sauce Boat. The Sauce Boat is beautifully modelled as a swan with an elongated oval sauce boat with flat handle acting as the tail feathers, deep bowl and pinched rounded foot. The Spoon has a special indent on the underside of the handle so it balances on the side of the bowl, with a curved stem terminating into a shaped swans head. The bowl and spoon are both stamped Christofle, France, Collection Gallia with the Knight Christofle hallmark used between 1935-1983. The silver swan spoon and sauce boat by Christofle was designed by Christian Fjerdingstad (1891-1968) a Danish silversmith and design consultant for Christofle between 1924 to 1939.

Measurements

(centimetres) Spoon 20.5 Long x 5 Wide x 7 High Bowl 6 High x 20.5 Long x 10 Deep

(Inches) Spoon 8 Long x 2 Wide x 2.75 High Bowl 2.35 x 8 x 3.95

Christofle is a world renowned French silverware and tableware company that was founded in 1830 by Charles Christofle in Paris. The company is best known for having introduced electrolytic gilding and silver plating in 1842. The company was acquired in 2012 by one of its shareholders, the Chalhoub family’s luxury group.

Gallia was bought by Chrisfole in 1888 however worked as a separate entity. The first Gallia products were proposed at the end of the 19th century by Alfenide Foundry, (A.K.A Alpaca or Neusilber). Christofle allowed it to continue trading under its own brand and Christofle employed experienced French goldsmith, Félix Chéron to manage the Alfenide factory. Later he was commissioned to create a new line of cheap tin-based silver-plated products. The idea was that such a new enterprise was rather risky for Christofle, who at that time dominated on the French market of luxury silver-plated products, and it was decided to introduce the new product under the name of Alfenide. Therefore, on all newly-produced Gallia items the Alfenide mark for silver-plating, a profile of a goat inside a rhombus in a square box, was used. However, once production proved to be a great success the Alfenide mark disappeared and instead, the Christofle mark was used.

Christian Fjerdingstad (1891-1968) was hired by Christofle as a head designer in 1924. He is regarded to be a key designer that contributed to the revival of early twentieth-century silverware.

Silver Plate refers to a method of applying a thin layer of silver to a base metal such as brass. Therefore it refers to an item which is not solid silver but plated to the outer coating.

Art Deco was a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first appeared in France in the 1910s. It flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920s to early 1930s. It was hugely prevalent through styling and design of the exterior and interior of anything from large structures to small objects and even influenced fashion and jewellery. Art Deco has influenced bridges, buildings, ships, ocean liners, trains, cars, trucks, buses, furniture, and everyday objects like radios and vacuum cleaners. It has become extremely popular today and is highly desirable to collectors and trendsetters in the fashion industry.

With every purchase from Mark Goodger Antiques, you will receive our latest catalogue, a Certificate of Authenticity, detailed care instructions for your chosen piece and an independent invoice (for insurance purposes) will be enclosed. As well as being protected by a no-hassle, money-back policy, your piece will be entirely insured during the shipping process to ensure the safety of your item.