French Silver Plated Champagne Ice Bucket Lion Head Handles AlpaDur 26102610

French silver plated champagne ice bucket

A handsome French silver plated champagne ice bucket -- a seau a champagne -- made by AlpaDur, a French producer of quality silver-plated tableware whose pieces were standard equipment in the well-appointed French dining room and hotel sideboard from the mid-twentieth century onward. The form is classic: a generously proportioned urn body that flares outward at the top, finished with a crisp gadrooned border at the rim and a matching band at the foot.

What sets this piece apart are the two cast lion-head ring handles, each modelled with a flowing mane and holding a twisted-rope ring in its jaws -- a motif drawn straight from the neoclassical silver tradition. The outer surface carries a bright mirror polish that reflects the room around it, while the handles have taken on a warmer, darker tone that reads beautifully against the polished body. Stamped on the base is the maker's oval mark reading AlpaDur with a 100gr silver plating designation inside. On the table it holds a bottle of wine or Champagne with ice, and off duty it works equally well as a planter, a vessel for flowers, or a focal point on a bar cart or sideboard.

Condition and patina consistent with age. The interior shows light age marks and minor surface oxidation typical of a piece that has been used and loved; the exterior polish remains strong.

Approx. 8.1 in tall (20.5 cm).

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