Important silver box by Louis Aucoc Ainé, Paris circa 1860

Rare and delicate oak box lined with red velvet including a solid silver tea and coffee service.
It includes a samovar and its stove, a milk jug, a sugar bowl, a teapot and a coffee maker.
Each piece features a shape inspired by Etruscan ceramics.
They are finely etched with palmettes, lotus flowers, Greek friezes, ancient scenes of battles, parades, plowing, political debates and Jewish symbols on a partially gilded background.
Great quality carving and design with gold interiors and small ivory pads to insulate heat on the handles of the coffee maker, teapot and samovar.

1st title hallmark and small guarantee, silver, Paris.
Hallmarks and stamps from Aucoc ainé.

Parisian work from the Napoleon 3 period around 1860.

Dimensions and weight:

Oak wood box: Width: 64 cm, Depth: 42 cm, Height: 25 cm

Sugar bowl: Width: 21 cm, Height: 14.5 cm, weight: 733 grams
Teapot: Width: 26 cm, Height: 15 cm, weight: 925 grams
Milk jug: Height: 16.5 cm, weight: 289 grams
Coffee maker: Height: 26 cm, weight: 740 grams
Stove diameter 9cm, weight: 191 cm
Samovar support: height 20 cm by 20 cm high, weight: 805 grams
Samovar: Height: 23 cm, Width: 31 cm; weight: 1713 grams

Total weight: 5.4 kilos



The Musée d'Orsay has a service close to the Aucoc house (Inv N° OAO 1043) including a coffee maker, a milk jug and a sugar bowl with the same shapes and decorations as our service, as well as six cups and saucers.


Origin :

Our precious box is a gift from Pasha Yacoub Bey Cattaui (1800-1883) for the marriage of his granddaughter Mathilde in the 1860s with Napoleon 3's advisor Frederic Salomon Reintlinger (1836-1907)

Aucoc House:

The Maison Aucoc was created in 1821 by Casimir Aucoc, rue Saint Honoré in Paris. It initially specialized in boxes, toiletry and travel kits. In 1836, it was directed by Jean-Baptiste Aucoc. The Aucoc house then broadened its area of expertise to goldsmithing and jewelry. Under the Second Empire, Louis Aucoc (1850-1932) known as the Elder, was at the head of the family business from 1850 until the mid-1870s, a period during which the factory, located at 4 and 6 rue de la Paix, developed while diversifying and became one of the official suppliers to the courts of France and Europe.

Our opinion :

With its abundant and particularly fine decoration, our precious service demonstrates incredible luxury and offers us a mixture of reinterpretations of antique styles and floral decoration which announces the beginnings of art nouveau.
This clever mix is reinforced by the choice of a samovar which is a utensil for boiling water originating from Eurasia and widely used in the Middle East.
The provenance takes us back to the epic tale of oriental bankers such as the Alfassa, Camondo and Cattaui families who prospered in the Paris of Emperor Napoleon 3.
Our service is one of the finest productions from the Aucoc house which supplied many crowned heads.
Of the greatest rarity, it is rivaled only by the model kept at the Musée d’Orsay.