Liturgical Cruets In Silver And Crystal France 19th Century, By Armand Calliat Orfevre

Pair of cruets by Armand Calliat Thomas-Josèph goldsmith. The set consists of a pair of crystal cruets mounted on two-tone silver frames (gold and white) and their boat-shaped silver-gilt top decorated with a large frieze composed of scrolls and saw teeth , vines and reeds engraved on four sides. The border is molded with a frieze of pearls. The cruets are baluster in shape with a spherical body, high neck, volute handle covered with acanthus. They rest on a circular pedestal with eight lobes. The frames feature a cut and chiseled decoration of acanthus leaves, lanceolate leaves and pearls. The amati silver lids are decorated with rushes and vermillion vine clusters. 950/1000 silver, Minerva Maitre Orfevre hallmarks: **ARMAND CALLIAT THOMAS-jOSEPH, late 19th century, Lyon, France. Height: 14 cm Tray: 23.7 cm — The goldsmith Armand-Calliat won an award at the Universal Exhibition in London in 1862 and at those in Paris in 1867, 1878, 1889 and 1900. Likewise, he published three booklets on the occasion of the Universal Exhibitions of 1867, 1878 and 1889. In forty-eight years of career, he created around 5,000 prestigious pieces, most of them for the great French sanctuaries such as Lourdes, La Salette and Fourvière, but also for monasteries and especially for the Saint-Pierre abbey in Solesmes. He also created original works for Popes Pius IX and Leo XIII. Today, nearly 1,000 drawings from his workshop are kept at the Fourvière museum in Lyon5. / **pages 80-85 of the dictionary of liturgical arts Bernard Berthod and Elisabeth Hardouin-Fugier, 1996 edition, ISBN 2-85917-215-7