Sterling silver Sauceboat and Stand by VEYRAT, Comital Alliance Arms

Sauceboat and its stand in solid silver, total weight 682 grams, of flowing form with a double pouring lip. The quadrilobed rim is moulded with fillets and fitted with two finely chased rocaille handles. The stand follows the same decorative vocabulary, bordered with corresponding fillets and enriched at the corners with foliate clasps.

The wing of the stand is engraved with finely executed alliance arms beneath a comital crown. These arms remain unidentified at present.

The stand, screwed, bears a later maker’s mark, corresponding to an early subsequent intervention.

The ensemble stands out for the quality of its workmanship, the precision of its chasing and the harmonious balance of its proportions, characteristic of high level Parisian silver production at the end of the career of Jean-François VEYRAT.

Marks
• Minerva, 1st standard (solid silver 950/1000)
• Master silversmith: VEYRAT, lozenge mark with one star above and one star below
• Stand: VEYRAT, lozenge mark with one star above and one star below; HS, rising sun and star, for Henri SOUFFLOT


JEAN-FRANÇOIS VEYRAT

The firm VEYRAT is founded in Paris in 1815 by Jean-François VEYRAT, established at 10, rue de la Tour. He begins his career producing silver plated wares, before devoting himself from around 1830 to the manufacture of solid silver objects. His work is characterised by a high level of technical mastery and a refined interpretation of classical decorative repertoires.

Jean-François VEYRAT receives several distinctions at the Expositions of French Industrial Products, notably medals in 1834 and 1839. His workshop produces complete table services as well as pieces of form, caskets, tobacco boxes, coffee services in vermeil and enamel, and more ambitious compositions.

His son, Augustin Pierre Adolphe VEYRAT, born in Paris in 1809, is recorded from 1833 as a guillocheur and box mounter, before associating with the silversmith and jeweller Jean Valentin MOREL. Augustin VEYRAT subsequently joins his father’s workshop, which he gradually takes over.

In 1840, the firm becomes VEYRAT & Fils, then VEYRAT Fils in 1849. Towards the end of his career, Jean-François VEYRAT, often referred to as “VEYRAT père”, holds prominent positions within Parisian professional institutions. He serves as a judge at the commercial court, is a member of the Committee of the Union centrale des Beaux Arts appliqués, vice president of the Syndical Chamber of Jewellery and Silversmithing, and is appointed Officer of the Académie in 1874.

By the mid nineteenth century, the house of VEYRAT ranks among the most important silversmithing establishments in Paris, both for the scale of its production and the quality of its workmanship. Its works are today preserved in numerous French public collections.


Museums, Public Institutions and Listed Objects

• MUSÉE D’ORSAY, Paris, Vegetable dish, Paris, 1855–1860
• MUSÉE DES ARTS DÉCORATIFS, Bordeaux, Pair of dishes; Sugar bowl; Coffee pot, Paris, 1819–1838
• MUSÉE NATIONAL MAGNIN, Dijon, Oil and vinegar stand, Paris, 1840–1849
• MUSÉE DES ARTS DE LA TABLE, Abbaye de Belleperche, Crumb scoop, Paris, 1831–1840
• PARISH CHURCH OF SAINT MICHEL, Liffré, Baptismal shell, Paris, 1832–1838
Exhibitions
• MUSÉE DES ARTS DÉCORATIFS DE BORDEAUX, Permanence of French Silversmithing, Bordelais Silver, 10 April – 8 June 1987