A mid-19th century French 950 standard silver covered sugar bowl, Paris 1838-53 by François-Desiré Froment-Meurice (1802–1855)

Of inverted baluster form with a gadrooned rim raised upon an ornate foot of acanthus scrolls and scallop shells with strapwork heighted with flat chased scrolls. The body with a cast and applied bust of a renaissance woman within a C scroll reserve to each side, the rest of the body with finely flat chased foliate tracery. The handles formed as swans with rosettes, the domed pull off lid surmounted by an organic leaf form finial, applied with initials GG in gothic script. Marked underneath and with stamp Maison Meurice Froment.

Height – 20.5 cm / 8 inches

Length – 22 cm / 8.75 inches

Weight – 989 grams / 31.8 ozt

Mark registered at 6 Rue du Martroy on the 4th June 1833, mark struckthrough 8 Nov 1853 Froment-Meurice, among the most renowned silversmiths of mid-nineteenth century Paris, was a historicist whose work embraced medieval, Renaissance, and Islamic styles, which he charged with an abundance of sculptural ornament