A Douai Silver Coffee Pot By François-joseph Bis, 1766-1767

- Hammered, embossed, cast and chiseled silver
- François-Joseph Bis, master silversmith received in 1759 until 1786
- Douai, 1766-1767
- Total height: 32 cm Weight: 1301g (gross), 1186g (net)
- Very good condition, no restoration
- Provenance: Sotheby’s Paris sale of October 30, 2008, n°262; collection of R..., n°247

- Large silver coffee pot with twisted ribs. The rounded body with twisted ribs with edges lined with channels is delimited by a festoon from which emerges a twisted rib at the inflection point halfway up. The twisted ribs extend on the lid in a single movement to the seed. All the garrisons are treated in the same movement of torsos with inflection point, sleeve, lid, spout, feet.

- As usual among the goldsmiths of the Generality of Lille, the taste is marked for the twisted pieces, each warden retaining a recognizable style. Only two pieces with twisted ribs are listed in the different jurandes, a Valenciennes coffee pot from 1753 attributed to the goldsmith Etienne Lejuste and this major piece of the corpus of the Douais's warden.

- Hallmarks (under body of the pot): warden's mark: crowned C, hallmark from November 15, 1766 to 1767 ([Cartier] p.145); recognition: bunch of grapes suspended from a clawed crown, recognition of Douai from November 15, 1766 to 1770 (?) ([Cartier] p.145); master goldsmith: a crowned lion for François-Joseph Bis, goldsmith in Douai from 1759 to 1786 ([Cartier] p.62).
-  Ref. : [Cartier, Lille] Cartier, Nicole : « les orfèvres deLille », Vol I & II, Cahier du Patrimoine, 2007  ; [Cartier, Douai] Cartier, Nicole : « les orfèvres deDouai », Cahier du Patrimoine, 1995  ; [Cartier, Arras] Cartier, Nicole : « les orfèvres d’Arras », Mont-Saint-Eloi, chez l’auteur, 1983