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a silver vase with a handle on a white backgroundan antique silver plated pitcher with a handle on a standa silver vase with a woman on it on a white backgroundan antique silver plated coffee pot with handles and a chain around the handlea silver vase that has a monogram on ita large silver bowl with a lid on a pedestala silver bowl with a bird on top of ita silver vase with a woman on it on a white backgroundan antique silver vase with a statue on top of ita silver vase that has a woman on ita silver tea pot with a woman on ita silver vase that has a statue of a woman on itan image of a silver vase with a woman on ita silver vase that has a monogram on ita silver vase with a woman on it on a white backgrounda silver vase with a woman holding a flower on ita silver pitcher with a spoon in it sitting on a tablea silver vase with a handle on a white backgrounda silver vase with a flower on it on a white backgrounda silver pitcher with a chain around it on a tablea close up of a silver plate with a spoon on ita silver pitcher with a chain around it on a white surfacea close up of a silver plate with a clock on itan antique silver plate with a clock on it on a white surfacea silver vase that is sitting on a table
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38 - PARIS BETWEEN 1868 AND 1877: SILVERSMITH JULES WIESE (1818–1…
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Estimate €8,000 - €10,000
Sale commission
Description
PARIS BETWEEN 1868 AND 1877: SILVERSMITH JULES WIESE (1818–1890) A 950°/°° silver ewer in the Louis XVI and Renaissance styles, which were popular in the 19th century: the base features a frieze of laurel leaves, followed by fluting on an amati background; this motif is echoed on the spout, which ends in a droplet, with a row of pearls, and on the body, where friezes and acanthus scrolls are highlighted by the motto: ‘Qui mesure dure’ in Gothic letters, arranged like a buckled belt framing the monogram AC (for Adelina de Caux). The neck of the ewer is encircled by a frieze of cascading flowers, whilst the spout opening is shaped like a duck’s bill. The handle, shaped like a ship’s prow, depicts a Vestal Virgin sculpted in the round, wearing a Neo-Renaissance pearl headdress, her tunic seeming to cling to her body as if caught by the wind. Her waist is marked by a gilded silver belt adorned with a turquoise stone. The hinged lid is surmounted by a pine cone set upon a bed of leaves. Hallmark: Minerva Silversmith: full signature on the reverse: WIESE Paris Weight: engraved in English on the reverse: ‘Weight 2K970, 1st Title Silver’ Height: 36.5 cm The monogram, comprising the initials ‘AC’ and the motto ‘Qui mesure dure’, is associated with the opera diva Adelina Patti (1843–1919), or Adelina de Caux, who, at the age of 25, on 29 July 1868, married Louis-Sébastien-Henri de Roger de Cahuzac, Marquis de Caux, who was seventeen years her senior. Their marriage lasted nine years, until they separated in 1877. This work is likely part of a larger commission placed with Jules WIESE, intended for Adelina’s dressing table at the time of her marriage. This is evidenced by the sumptuous gilded silver dressing mirror, in the Renaissance style, reproduced in the book devoted to Jules WIESE, in which one finds the acanthus scrolls and – as a nod – the turquoise detail on the ewer’s belt, which also appears on the mirror beneath the Diva’s monogram and motto. Now forgotten, ‘La Patti’, the international opera singer (coloratura soprano), who graced the Parisian stages from the Second Empire until the end of the century, mentioned in 1866 by Jacques Offenbach in *La Vie Parisienne*, and in 1879 by Émile Zola in ‘Nana’, has no street in Paris named after her, unlike that other diva, L’Alboni (Marietta Alboni) – Passy metro station – with whom she shared the stage during a dinner at Rossini’s. Perhaps an oversight that needs rectifying? Source consulted: Silke HELLMUTH: *Jules WIESE und sein Atelier* – NICOLAI Publishers 2014 – pages 173 to 177 ‘Toilettenspiegel im Neorrenaissancestil’ Related work: Neuse Gallery, Bremen, c. 1868, height: 57 cm – length of plinth: 41.3 cm – Sold at Sotheby’s Monaco from a private collection: Fine European Furniture and Silverware, Monaco 24 June 2000, lot 348, then Sotheby’s: Important European Silverware, Paris 10 June 2004 lot no. 167: Excerpts: Jacques OFFENBACH ‘La vie Parisienne’: first act of the opéra-bouffe: ‘I, for my part, want to see the divas causing a sensation in the capital, to see Patti in *Don Pasquale* and Theresa in *Le Sapeur*’, Émile Zola: *Nana*: Chapter 3: ‘Have you heard Patti in *The Barber*?’ Expert Claire Badillet in Paris
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About the sale GRENOBLE – Arts Collections – October 2026
Auction location
Auction time 10/06/2026 at 6:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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