Description:
A Charming Mid-Century Five-Piece Christofle Electroplated Silver Tea and Coffee Set. The elegant set comprising of a coffee pot, a hot water pot, a sugar-bowl and a milk jug. Stamped 'Christofle' - 'Industria Argentina'. Circa: 1950-1960.
Coffee-pot height: 9 inches (22.9 cm)
Hot-water pot height: 7 1/2 inches (19.1 cm)
Milk-jug height: 4 7/8 inches (12.4 cm)
Sugar-bowl height: 4 1/2 inches (11.4 cm)
Ref.: A2822 - Lot 6540
Christofle is a luxury French silverware and tableware company founded in Paris in 1830 by Charles Christofle.
The company is known for having introduced electrolytic gilding and silver plating in France in 1842. The company was acquired in 2012 by one of its shareholders, the Chalhoub family's luxury group.
The Christofle company was founded in 1830 by Charles Christofle. Born into a family of Parisian industrialists specializing in precious metal work, Charles Christofle was 15 years old when he began an apprenticeship with his brother-in-law Hugues Calmette, a manufacturer of "provincial jewelry. In 1830, he took over the family business and in 1832 registered his master's mark at the Paris Guarantee Office to manufacture gold jewelry.
Twelve years later, in 1842, he bought from the Frenchman Henri de Ruolz and the Englishman Elkington the patents for gilding and silvering by electrolysis; this technique gave birth to silver plating in France. In 1844, he decided to create and manufacture his own models.
Christofle supplied King Louis-Philippe, who in 1846 ordered a dinner service for the Château d'Eu. The company became famous after Emperor Napoleon III ordered a 4,000-piece service, including the surtouts, in 1851. The centerpiece of the goldsmith's surtouts was recovered from the ruins of the Tuileries Palace and is now in the Museum of Decorative Arts. Its titles of "Goldsmith of the King" and "Supplier of the Emperor" allowed the house to become famous and to be solicited by foreign sovereigns such as the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, the Tsar of Russia, the German Kaiser, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire.
When Charles Christofle died, his son Paul (1838-1907) and his nephew Henri Bouilhet (1830-1910) succeeded him and continued to develop the company. Thanks to the development of new techniques (massive electroplating, enamels, patinas, natural impressions) and the opening of new factories (Saint-Denis and Karlsruhe), Christofle became one of the major goldsmiths of the century. Its collections cover not only tableware and decoration, but also objets d'art, decorative statuary, prizes for races or agricultural competitions, and monumental decor for gilding, for example the decorations on the roof of the Opéra Garnier.
After the Second World War, new factories were opened abroad:
Sadoca, an Argentinian manufacturing unit is in operation from 1950 to 1992.
Argenteria, in Milan, essentially a repair and finishing workshop, was opened in 1955 and closed shortly after 1963.
Prataria Universal, opened in Brazil in 1974, was initially a finishing workshop, and became a full production plant in 1976. It remained in the Christofle fold until 2007.