Solid Silver Tea And Coffee Set, With Zoomorphic Masks And Spouts, Circa 1920

Four-piece solid silver tea and coffee set, Paris, circa 1920–1925.

Featuring a particularly decorative and unusual design, this set consists of a coffee pot, a teapot, a lidded sugar bowl, and a milk jug.

The bulbous bodies rest on pedestals accented with friezes of water leaves. The Neo-Empire-inspired decoration is distinguished above all by its remarkable masculine mascarons—powerfully modeled and highly expressive—as well as by its zoomorphic spouts shaped like the heads of fantastical birds.

The handles and lid knobs are made of ebony, whose simple, stylized forms already foreshadow the Art Deco aesthetic. This combination of a rich historicist vocabulary and a more refined line gives the set a great deal of character and places it squarely in the 1920s.

The set bears the Minerve 1st title hallmark as well as Élie Vabre’s maker’s mark: E – star – V. An interesting detail is that the coffee pot also bears the P–anvil–C hallmark of Paul Canaux on its upper frieze, while retaining Élie Vabre’s hallmark on its base. This dual marking attests to the involvement of both workshops in the creation of this piece.

A very fine set of French silverware from the first quarter of the 20th century, remarkable for its weight, the quality of its sculpted elements, and above all for the originality of its mascarons and zoomorphic spouts.

• • Coffee pot: H. 20 cm – 731 g
  • Teapot: H. 14 cm – 719 g
  • Sugar bowl: H. 12 cm – 440 g
  • Milk jug: H. 8 cm – 192 g
  • Total weight: 2,082 g