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

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

Drawings of centerpieces from back when they made the social splash, not the food. From the archives of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Late 18th century to around 1840.

Design for a surtout de table (centerpiece). 18th c. Made in Paris. Pen with brown ink and gray wash. Babel, maker. Image Musée des Arts Décoratifs. ©Photo Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Fair use license. via http://collections.madparis.fr/surtout-de-table-1?mode=default

Design for a surtout de table (centerpiece). 1814-1830. Watercolor on paper. Attributed to Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751–1843). © Collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Fair use license. via http://collections.madparis.fr/surtout-de-table?mode=default

Design for two modèles de surtout de table (detail). — Design for two modèles de surtout de table (detail) (centerpieces). 1800. Spanish. Pen, brown ink, pencil and watercolor. Artist not known. Image © Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Fair use license. via http://collections.madparis.fr/deux-modeles-de-surtout-de-table?mode=default

Design for a surtout de table (centerpiece) from the Album Giroux. 1852-1870. French. Crayon and gouache on paper. House of Alphonse Giroux, makers. Image © Musée des Arts Décoratifs. ©Photo Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Fair use license. via http://collections.madparis.fr/surtout-de-table-7?mode=default

Design for a surtout de table (centerpiece). 1814-1830. French. Watercolor. Attributed to Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843). Image © Musée des Arts Décoratifs. ©Photo Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris/Jean Tholance. Fair use license.via http://collections.madparis.fr/surtout-de-table-4?mode=default

Dessin for a surtout à liqueur. 1775-1785. Pen and ink with watercolor. Artist not known. Image © Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Fair use license. via http://collections.madparis.fr/modele-de-surtout-a-liqueur?mode=default