Christofle & Cie Large Silver Plated Metal Tray 1880

Large silver-plated metal tray with a so-called natural impression decoration of a water lily leaf "Victoria regia" Signed Christofle and numbered 1835368Paris circa 1885 Dimensions: 50 x 47 cm At the exhibition of metal arts organized by the Union Centrale des Beaux-arts Appliqués à l'Industrie in 1880, the participation of the Christofle house is noted for a new manufacturing and decoration process: the decorations of printed natural leaves and flowers, a process patented on October 2, 1880. Thanks to the electroplating process, water lily leaves, harvested by employees of the Christofle house in the Toulouse region, print on the metal all the details of their silhouettes and all the delicacy of their veins. This taste for naturalistic trompe-l'oeil taken to the extreme announces certain research of Art Nouveau. A model of this technique is kept at the Musée d'Orsay. Some wear on the reverse