Surtout de table or table centerpieces. French. They just don’t make them like this anymore.

Surtout de table à la Pagode in finely chiseled vermeil. Composed of a large plate, covered by a mirror and surrounded by balustrades surmounted by covered urns running alongside four small removable basins opening onto two flights of steps flanked by dolphins and, on the sides, onto two fountains with mascarons in the middle of rushes. There is an open pagoda in the center with leafy uprights and an openwork roof with a Meissen porcelain musician in the center. 1873 to 1900. French. Boin Taburet, maker. Maker’s marks: Goldsmith’s signature BOIN TABURET à PARIS. Image © proantic.com. Fair use license. via https://www.proantic.com/magazine/surtout-de-table-a-la-pagode/
Surtout de Table in cast and gilt bronze with hand engraving, cut glass, and silver-mirrored glass. Similar to one used at the wedding banquet of Napoleon and Empress Marie-Louise. ca. 1810. French. Pierre-Philippe Thomire, maker (1751-1843). Image © Cooper Hewitt Museum. Fair use license. via https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2018/09/05/surtout-de-table-sustenance-of-political-power/
Central section of a surtout de table of centerpiece for a table of a hundred guests with the theme of France distributing crowns of glory. Galvanic bronze and silver-plated bronze, electroplated. Originally silver-plated, its present color, rough areas, and blisters are due to the terrible fire that destroyed the Tuileries palace during the Commune in 1871. Neoclassical. 1852-1858, commissioned in 1852 by the future Napoleon III. French. François Gilbert, Georges Diebolt, and Pierre-Louis Rouillard, sculptors. Made in Paris by Christofle. Image © MAD, the  Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Fair use license. via https://madparis.fr/central-section-of-a-centerpiece-for-a-table-of-a-hundred-guests-france

Leave a Reply