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

“Retour d’Egypte” candelabra with more than a touch of Egyptian motifs. Very fashionable after Napoleon returned from Egypt. And later. Some of them almost five feet tall.

Pair of Empire “Retour d’Egypt” seven light figural candelabra in gilt and patinated bronze, depicting an Egyptian king and queen clad in draped robes and wearing nemes, their heads supporting pedestal urns with each urn issuing a pair of scrolling candle arms with folate nozzles surmounted by a further scrolling arm and flanked by two crouching female figures, the standing figural supports each holding a further urn issuing four scrolling candle arms, the nozzles supported on ram’s head or wolf’s head cast terminals. The tapering shaped plinths raised on paw feet, and having applied figural relief plaquettes depicting Diana and Endymion. Image © Bonhams 2001-2021. Fair use license. via https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26939/lot/37/?category=list&length=189&page=1

Pair of “Retour d’Egypte” candlesticks in gilded bronze. ca. 1850. French. Maker not given. Image © 2021 AnticStore and Mora Antiques. Fair use license. via https://www.anticstore.art/91399P

Pair of Regency “Retour d’Egypte” ormolu three-light candelabra, each with a flaming finial and three sphinx branches, the fluted column with a lion monopodia base and hoof feet. The lower section of each candelabra depicting a stylized anthemion flanked with florets scrolling zoomorphic supports with lion paw feet, almost certainly modeled on designs of 1799 by Tatham that were disseminated in his “Etchings representing Fragments of Grecian and Roman Architectural Ornaments”. George IV as Prince Regent purchased a very similar pair. 1800-1825. Probably British. Image © Christie’s 2021. Fair use license. via https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6062724

Ewers from various 19th century style revivals. Why not have something more visually interesting than the food at your next dinner party.

Pair of gilt bronze and crystal ewers in the Etruscan style, each with a gilded bronze handle terminated by a mask, the gadrooned body above a circular foot, centered by a blue enamel emblem with the letters “SAC”. 19th c. Maker not known. Image © Proantic.com and Le Brun Antiques and Works of Fine Art, London. Fair use license. via https://www.proantic.com/display.php?mode=obj&id=805544

Pair of large Renaissance Revival ewers with black marble bases in chiseled, gilded and dark ocher patina bronze decorated in a theme of hunting under the Renaissance (greyhounds and falconry) with hunters with their dogs, an angel, on the beak of the ewer: a grotesque face. The handle with a complex pattern of bars, foliage and volutes and a hawk. Gilt pedestal adorned with acanthus leaves and a stack of moldings. 19th c. Maker not known. Image ©2017 | anticSwiss™ – P.IVA IT02292420482. Fair use license. via https://www.anticswiss.com/en/fine-art-antiques/pair-of-large-ewers-renaissance-style-xixth-14908

Pair of ovoid gilt bronze and patinated bronze ewers in the Louis XVI or Directoire style, the beak in the shape of a goat’s head, the body decorated with antique bas-reliefs and the handles decorated with intertwined reptiles. Round pedestal bases chiseled with canals and a laurel frieze. 19th c. Maker not known. Image © proantic.com and Une Autre Epoque. Fair use license. via https://www.proantic.com/display.php?id=502841

Pair of bronze ewers with two patinas depicting bacchanal scenes after Clodion with the gilded bronze frame supporting the body with large stylized acanthus leaves and a circular pedestal base with channels adorned with a frieze of vines and a frieze of pearls. The medal patina body being decorated with bas reliefs after Clodion, depicting putti and child satyrs manhandling a dog and a goat while brandishing thyrsis with vines and friezes of gilded bronze beads adorning the upper part of the ewer and the weir being decorated with water leaves at the base as well as a decoration of vines and friezes of olives and coins. Gilt bronze guilloche handles, each straddled by a winged bacchic putto holding bunches of grapes and seated in front of a bird with vine leaves wrapping around each handle which is also decorated with grooves and foliage and finished with a ram’s head topped with leaves. 19th c. The scenes depicted are similar to bas-reliefs made by Clodion (1738-1814) at the request of the Princess of Bourbon-Condé in 1781. Clodion worked in the Rococo and Neoclassical styles. Image © JLF Antiquités, Saint-Ouen. Fair use license. via https://www.jeanlucferrand.com/produit/objets-d-art/clodion-paire-daiguieres-en-bronze-a-deux-patines-fin-du-xixeme-siecle/

Make your automobile smile. Buy one of these chromed Art Deco mascots for it. All of these from a recent Bonham’s auction.

“Stork” mascot in chromed metal, based on the famous design by Francois Bazin. Mounted on a period radiator cap. 1935. Maker not shown. Image © Bonhams 2001-2021. Fair use license. via https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27140/lot/49/?category=list&length=12&page=5

“Serpent” mascot in nickel plated bronze, on a chromed locking radiator cap. 1920s. French. J. A. Bebin, maker. Image © Bonhams 2001-2021. Fair use license. via https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27140/lot/54/?category=list&length=12&page=5

“Lady water-skier” mascot in chrome plated die-cast metal, mounted on a radiator cap. 1930s. American, made in Chicago by Krone and Sebek. Image © Bonhams 2001-2021. Fair use license. via https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27140/lot/55/?category=list&length=12&page=5

Automobile mascot modeled as a winged nymph in the nude holding the chains of an aquaplane board. Chrome plated die-cast alloy mounted on a radiator cap. 1930s. British. Maker not given. Image © Bonhams 2001-2021. Fair use license. via https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27140/lot/56/?category=list&length=12&page=5

Centerpieces by Elkington of Birmingham, England in silver and bronze. A pair of snazzy dessert stands, too. But you’ll see, they fit right in. Set a table you’ll have to live up to instead of the other way around.

Silvered bronze centerpiece with silvered bronze figures and chasing on the base and an original glass bowl. 1859. Victorian. Made in Birmingham, England by Elkington, Mason and Company. Maker’s marks: marked to the base. Image © 1stDibs.com, Inc. 2021. Fair use license. via https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/dining-entertaining/centerpieces/elkington-mason-co-rare-important-historic-silvered-bronze-centerpiece/id-f_12625162/?utm_content=condensed&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5PGFBhC2ARIsAIFIMNc65CH7UexSTUc5uw7ym5rU1I0IT1roT0KER1qtKK06mUpEsozwAqUaAnp9EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Pair of sterling silver dessert stands, each of them featuring three gilt figures of Bast (the winged cat) appearing to hold up the central urn shaped column which stands on three clawed feet. Frosted and cut glass dishes. 1873. Victorian. Egyptian Revival. Made in Birmingham, England by Elkington. Maker’s marks hallmarks to the base. Image © 1stDibs.com, Inc. 2021. Fair use license. via https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/dining-entertaining/sterling-silver/egyptian-revival-antique-sterling-silver-pair-of-dessert-stands-elkington/id-f_16494102/

Centerpiece in bronze. Shaped bronze base with two entwined palms sheltering two greyhounds or whippets, modeled after Pierre-Jules Menne’s “Two Whippets at Play” and a Villeroy and Boch plate in blue and white ceramic. Early 20th c. British. Made by Elkington of Birmingham, England. Image © 1stDibs.com, Inc. 2021. Fair use license. via https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/dining-entertaining/centerpieces/villeroy-boch-plate-elkington-co-centerpiece-after-pj-mennes-two-whippets/id-f_20456382/#skuId=f_20456382S1

Wall-appliques (sconces) with a bit more than a little gilt bronze to put your best candles in. Each a little bit “different”, not the boring old kind your mother in law has.

Pair of two-light wall-appliques with burnished and matt gilding, each cast with a pair of winged sphinxes and garlands of flowers. Fitted for electricity. 1850-1875. Made in Paris. Gilt-bronze. after a design by Jean-Francois Forty. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/furniture-clocks-works-of-art/a-pair-of-louis-xvi-style-gilt-bronze-two-light

Pair of four-light wall-appliques. 19th c. Louis XVI. French. Gilt-bronze. After a model by Pierre Gouthière (1723-1813). Attributed to Henry Dasson (1825-1896). Maker’s marks: One light inscribed to one side “Henry Dasson 1879”. Image © 1996 – 2021 | Jan’s & Company Fine French Antiques Inc, Fair use license. via https://jansantiques.com/Lot/jac2421_2.php

Pair of French Empire style figural two branch wall appliques or sconces. Vintage. Gilt bronze. Made in England. Image © 1stDibs.com, Inc. 2021. Fair use license. via https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/lighting/sconces-wall-lights/rare-pair-of-empire-style-figural-two-branch-wall-appliques-sconces-gilt-bronze/id-f_17168302/

Gilt and patinated bronze ormolu two light wall-appliques (sconces). ca. 1770-1775. Louis XV/Louis XVI. Attributed to Jean-Louis Prieur. Image © Auction Technology Group Germany GmbH 2021. Fair use license. via https://www.lot-tissimo.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/rena/catalogue-id-renasc10000/lot-914b2400-44b9-4f60-bc6d-abc400864aec

Gilded up Art Nouveau ladies forever stuck in the art. Sculptures and a vase by French artist Maurice Bouval who lived from 1863 to 1916.

Gilt bronze vase with nude and leaves. 1910. Art Nouveau. French. Maurice Bouval, creator. Cast at the Colin Foundry in Paris. Image © 1stDibs.com, Inc. 2021. Fair use license. via https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/decorative-objects/sculptures/figurative-sculptures/art-nouveau-gilt-bronze-vase-nude-leaves-maurice-bouval-france-1910/id-f_23311902/

“Obsession et rêve” suite of four candelabra. ca. 1898. French. Chased gilt bronze on marble plinths. Maurice Bouval, artist. Maker’s marks: Signed “M. Bouval” in the bronze. Foundry mark for *Thiebaut Frères*, Paris. Image © Christie’s 2021. Fair use license. via https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5488859

Gilt bronze lidded vessel. ca, 1900. Art Nouveau. French. Maurice Bouval, artist. Marker’s marks: Stamped “M. BOUVAL.” Circular “JOLLET ET CIE stamp to base. Image © 2021 Bidsquare Inc. Fair use license. via https://www.bidsquare.com/online-auctions/rago/maurice-bouval-art-nouveau-vessel-602151

Cassolettes in ormolu and patinated bronze. Mostly from around 1800. Used to burn potpourri.

Pair of cassolettes, each cast as an oil lamp with an eagle’s head finial on a circular plinth. ca. 1795. Directoire. Ormolu and patinated bronze. Image © Christie’s 2021. Fair use license. via https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/collector-english-european-furniture-ceramics-silver-works-art/pair-directoire-ormolu-patinated-bronze-cassolettes-1/114915

Pair of cassolettes, each one raised on a triform white marble base, the base bordered with ormolu, raised on a molded ormolu step above three toupie feet and set to the center with an elaborate ormolu foliate finial. The base of each cassolette supporting three patinated legs, each leg modeled as an elongated cartyatid that terminates in a hoof foot with the legs supporting the bowl of the vase. The rim of each bowl finished with a pierced ormolu frieze and topped with a flat cover which is in turn surmounted by an elaborate ormolu finial comprised of a an abandance of fruit and foliage. Late 19th c. in the Louis XVI style. French. Ormolu, patinated bronze and white marble. Henry Dasson, maker (1825-1895). Maker’s marks: signed “Henry Dasson” to the base of each. Image v© 2021 Mayfair Gallery Limited. Fair use license. via https://www.mayfairgallery.com/pair-gilt-patinated-bronze-cassolettes-dasson

Pair of baluster form cassolettes, the ring-adorned waisted neck mounted with foliate swans, the stiff-leaf cast lip headed by a domed lid with pinecone finial flanked by winged putti blowing dolphin-headed horns and resting on scrolled paired lion supports above a circular fluted base with foliate-cast edge. ca. 1785-1790. French. Attributed to Pierre-Philippe Thomire. Image © Christie’s 2021, Fair use license. via https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5103945