Orfevrerie Gallia - Silver Plated Art Nouveau Bread Basket "Epi de Blé" (Ear of Wheat)

This silver-plated bread basket in typical Art Nouveau style was made around 1910 by Orfevrerie Gallia, a subsidiary of the French silversmith Christofle, Paris. The fruit basket is beautifully decorated with elegant tendrils, flowers and Art Nouveau ornaments, which are applied in a very refined and sharp way. A beautiful piece of Gallia silverware.

In excellent condition. Some superficial scratches on the inside of the basket, some slight discolouration. Please refer to the pictures for an impression.

Marked on the underside of a handle with [O.GALLIA][4384]. This is the maker's mark used for the line of Christofle's Gallia products in the Manufacture de l'Alfenide, lead by Félix Chéron at the beginning of the 20th century. The silver factory became famous for its refined productions in the Art Nouveau  and later Art Deco styles.

Length: 33cm
Width: 20,5cm
Height (basket): 5cm
 

The "Orfevrerie Gallia" - a name mainly known among Art Nouveau & Art Deco collectors - took its name from the copper and tin alloy invented at the end of the 19th century, which would be used as the base material for all its products. The French Christofle, at that time mainly operating in the market segment of luxury goods and prestige items, considered the use of this material so risky that they did not want to see it directly linked to its own brand name. This is because the Gallia metal was actually inferior to the "Metal Blanc" alloy that had been used for Christofle products until then. Gallia production was housed in the Manufacture de l'Alfenide factory, headed by Félix Chéron. However, due to the lower production costs, Gallia did have the budget to hire well-known designers for their own lines (including Luc Lanel, Maurice Dufrêne). Thanks to the beautiful design and the lower cost prices, many of their products became resounding successes. When this realization sank in with the management of Christofle, the name Gallia was fully incorporated into Christofle. In 1935 it no longer operated autonomously.

Special thanks to dr. David N. Nikogosyan for his excellent research and source material, freely available online.