A generously proportioned French silver plated champagne bowl, raised on a stepped pedestal base and fitted with two sets of cast handles: lion head mounts at the rim and boldly modelled grape clusters with vine leaves lower on the body. Pieces of this type -- the vasque a champagne, a standing wine cooler bowl meant to hold a bottle or two on ice at table -- were a fixture of French bourgeois and hotel entertaining from the early twentieth century onward, produced in silver plate by the dozen for brasseries, chateau dining rooms and well-appointed homes alike.
The bowl has a satisfying heft and a deep, rounded form that reads as confidently classical. The exterior retains areas of its original silver finish alongside a warm, coppery patina where the plating has mellowed with age -- a look that sits beautifully in a French country sideboard display, a bar cart or a hall console used as a planter. The cast grape and vine leaf handles are particularly well detailed, with crisp relief that has held its character despite decades of use. No maker's mark is legible in the photos.
Condition and patina consistent with age. The exterior shows natural silver loss and tarnishing across the lower body and base, and the interior carries the scratching and oxidation typical of a piece that has seen genuine use over many decades. Nothing structural, nothing that diminishes the presence of the piece.
Approx. 12.2 in wide x 9.3 in tall (31 x 23.5 cm), measured without the handles.
