This sculptural pair in silver-plated metal shows the fluid, organic modernism Lino Sabattini brought to Christofle in the late 1950s. The covered box is a clean, compact cylinder. Its gently domed lid rises into a slender tapered spout, like a drop of liquid metal pulled upward, which also serves as the finial. The vase is built from three flaring trumpet forms stacked into a rhythmic column, its pinched waists and wide discs recalling a spinning top or a stack of turned metal. Both pieces are polished to a mirror finish, so their curves catch and distort every reflection in the room and work as much as small abstract sculptures as functional objects. Displayed together, the solid cylinder and the airy stacked silhouette make a balanced dialogue of mass and line that suits a modern or Art Deco interior.
Lino Sabattini was born in Bregnano, Italy, and became the preeminent figure in modern Italian silver and metalware design. He was largely self-taught. With encouragement from his friend and mentor Gio Ponti, he combined classical refinement with modernist and minimalist form. Christofle’s principals were so impressed by his work that they hired him as the firm’s artistic director, a post he held until 1963. His designs for the house include the celebrated “Cardinale” bud vase. In 1964 he founded his own firm, Argenteria Sabattini, in Bregnano, and he later designed for Rosenthal.
Christofle was founded in Paris in 1830 by Charles Christofle and is best known for introducing electrolytic gilding and silver plating to France in 1842. Gallia was first registered by Christofle in 1898 as a pewter alloy used under silver plating. From 1900 to 1937 its silver-plated Gallia pieces were sold as a separate line, which was then folded into the Christofle catalogue. Since 1935 the Christofle maker’s mark has been the chess knight flanked by the initials “OC” (Orfèvrerie Christofle), as stamped on both of these pieces.