Lot 123: EMPEROR NAPOLEON III: A FRENCH SILVER-PLATED TRAY, CHRISTOFLE, PARIS, CIRCA 1854

EMPEROR NAPOLEON III: A FRENCH SILVER-PLATED TRAY, CHRISTOFLE, PARIS, CIRCA 1854 rectangular with palmette rim and torsed handles, the surface decorated with the Imperial arms within a wreath of laurel and oak, flanked by the crowned cypher N, all on a bed of bees and surrounded by running ivy marked under rim and numbered 328247 and 1 5 7 in lozenges length over handles 28 3/4 in. 70cm

Versailles 1993: Versailles et les Tables Royales, no. 362 (a tray of this model in the collection of the Musée Bouilhet-Christofle, Paris)

Henri Bouilhet, 150 Ans D'Orfèvrerie: Christofle, Silversmith since 1830, p. 121, fig. 3 (probably same example as above)

In 1853 Emperor Napoleon III commissioned from Christofle a silver-plated table service for 100 persons; he later told Princess Metternich that silver items would just be melted down, plus it cost 6,000 francs rather than 5 million. The order was to be finished by Christmas 1854. The designs for the service were made by sculptor François Gilbert, then working for the Christofle. Most of the service was lost when the Tuileries was burned in 1871, but a few pieces are in the Musee Bouilhet-Christofle, while the salvaged and restored Grand Surout is displayed at the Chateau de Compiègne.