Jacques Sitoleux designed this architectural vase for Christofle’s Gallia collection around 1969. Three open cylinders of different heights and diameters and two slender rods are gathered into one vertical cluster. The cluster passes through a flat square plate, so the tubes stand slightly below the platform as feet and rise above it in a stepped arrangement. The open tubes take single stems or small sprays, and the fine rods add rhythm and height. Even empty, the piece holds its own as a small sculpture.
The tubes are highly polished and the plate has a soft satin finish, so the reflections change as you move around the piece. Its stepped composition, which the French name “Orgues” (organ pipes) refers to, belongs to the late-sixties moment when Christofle’s silver plate took on a frankly sculptural, architectural language.