VALLIERE PIERRE SILVERSMITH - EMPIRE SWEETMEAT  IN FRENCH STERLING SILVER - FIRST COCK (1798-1809) - FRENCH
Weight : about 3.66 pound
Dimensions : about 13.65 inch X 4.68 inch
Sphere representing a map of the world (it is the period when the New World was being explored) opening in its middle, resting on 4 goats' feet,  standing on a cubic base decorated on each side by a lion's head. Decoration of Bacchus' heads and garlands of bunches of grapes and vine leaves. The sphere is topped with a fretel handle representing a sheaf of coffee trees branches (still the allusion to the New World) finished with a button which works perfectly well and allows the sphere's opening at its center. All the decoration references the discovery of Americas and the business of new foodstuffs : sugar, coffee ... Creation full of ingenuity, inventiveness and realized in the classical art canon. The piece emanates a perfect balance appropriate to the Age of the Enlightenment : the silversmith's work shows a bond with the intellectual spirit of the time : the man believes in himself and in his happiness.

Pierre Vallière was named master in silverware in 1776.