IMPORTANT PRICE CUP by CHRISTOFLE, 1865 in silver, awarded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Public Works. Circular cup with stamped decoration of four scenes of field work with the captions "GRAZING, MOVING, SELLING, WORKING. "Inscribed on...

IMPORTANT PRICE CUP by CHRISTOFLE, 1865 in silver, awarded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Public Works. Circular cup with stamped decoration of four scenes of field work with the captions "GRAZING, MOVING, SELLING, WORKING. "Inscribed on the circumference "MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, TRADE AND PUBLIC WORKS MDCCCLXV". Surmounted in the centre of the goddess Ceres holding in her right hand a laurel wreath and in her left hand a horn of plenty. She is in the standing position on a cylindrical base decorated with the Imperial Eagle. The cup rests on an urn-shaped shaft with a collar and knot, decorated with gadroons, with large volutes and foliage ending in vine leaves and ears of wheat. The circular base with a concave wing moulded with ovules and a crenellated decoration alternating ears of wheat and vine leaves, rests on four openwork feet with sprays of foliage of fodder plants: clover, trefoil, sainfoin, alfalfa. An ox, a ram, a ewe, a sickle and sheaves of fodder plants are represented in a hump. The Gucine is decorated with a geometrical frieze alternating motifs of vine leaves and ears of wheat on an amati background. It rests on four legs with openwork foliage scrolls, richly decorated and chiselled with bunches of leaves. Minerva hallmark. Work of Charles CHRISTOFLE (1805 -1863), Eugène CAPY (1829 - 1894) and Pierre ROUILLARD (1820 -1881). Height 63, Diameter of the plate 41.5 cm. Weight: 9.300 g. Important Christofle silver prize cup with allegorical decoration of grazing, harvesting, yielding and ploughing. Bibliography: Yves BADETZ in Daniel ALCOUFFE (dir.), L'Art en France sous le Second Empire, cat. exp. Paris, Grand Palais, 11 May - 13 August 1979, Paris, Ed. RMN, notice 79. The model of our trophy was presented for the first time at the London Universal Exhibition of 1862. In addition to Charles Christofle, who was awarded a new distinction at this event, the sculptors Eugène Capy and Pierre-Louis Rouillard collaborated in the creation of this important piece of silverware. The former created the model of Ceres, while the latter was involved in the creation of animals and probably bas-reliefs. It seems, however, that the prototype of this piece was designed at least a year earlier, as suggested by the photographic collections of the Christofle goldsmiths' pieces (Christofle archives). At the 1861 Salon, Charles Christofle did indeed exhibit a "gold and silver cup" that was donated by the Ministry of Agriculture to the regional competitions of the same year. As with our trophy, Eugène Capy participated in this project. On the other hand, the sculptor Auguste Madroux, who is helping with the prototype, is replaced by Pierre-Louis Rouillard. The figure of Ceres is treated in the neo-classical style. The drapes with falling folds or the laurel wreath, among others, recall the art of antiquity. This cup thus offers a composite stylistic repertoire. The bas-reliefs around the circumference of the bowl are treated realistically, while the ox and sheep are depicted naturalistically. In all cases, as Yves Badetz, Chief Curator of Heritage, points out, the figurative motifs of this trophy can be found in other pieces intended to be offered on the occasion of agricultural competitions. For example, the Ceres was edited alone to be placed on marble, while the ploughing scene is found on the base of a prize topped by a ploughman figure. Our bowl is one of the fifteen or so examples listed by Anne Gros, heritage curator at Maison Christofle. One is kept at the Musée d'Orsay (OAO 2083), while another dated 1866 is on display at the Musée d'Auxerre. Other copies have been put up for public sale, such as a cup made for the Épinal regional agricultural competition of 1864 (Christie's, 1 December 2016, no. 389 and Delon-Hoebanx, 20 June 2018, no. 261) or for the regional competition in Rennes in 1863 (Rennes enchères, 6 March 2017, no. 50), or in Caen in 1867 (Bordeaux, 29 November 2017, no. 217). Similar copies were also awarded at the Narbonne competition in 1870 and the Chartres competition in 1877. Automatically translated by DeepL. To see the original version, click here.