Froment-Meurice, Paris - 1896, the Jeux Floraux Prize Silver Vase

Details

Description

One maker. One laureate. One year. One object.
Froment-Meurice, Signed.
This silver and silver-gilt (vermeil) amphora-form trophy vase was awarded … Read more One maker. One laureate. One year. One object.
Froment-Meurice, Signed.
This silver and silver-gilt (vermeil) amphora-form trophy vase was awarded as a prize at the Jeux Floraux, one of France's oldest literary societies, a tradition of poetic competition dating to the 14th century, revived under the Second Empire with prizes struck by the leading silversmiths of Paris.

The square base is engraved "GÉSA DAR SUZY," "HONNEUR CASTILLAN," and "JEUX-FLORAUX 1896," recording both the recipient and the occasion, a rare instance where a 19th-century silver prize survives with its full presentation inscription intact.
Sculpted lily motif to the body, the emblem of the Jeux Floraux itself.
Height 8 15/16 in. (22.7 cm), weight 297g (approx. 9.5 troy oz).
Hallmarked with the boar's head mark, denoting the French 950 silver purity standard.

Froment-Meurice, silversmiths to the French royal and imperial courts through the 19th century, remain among the most celebrated names in French silverwork.

A named prize, a dated occasion, a maker of the first rank. This vase is not a type, but a record. See less