Art Deco Champagne Buckets ‘Undulations’ Luc Lanel for Christofle

From our Barware collection, we are delighted to offer this pair of Art Deco Champagne Bucket ‘Undulations’ by Luc Lanel for Christofle. The pair of tapered form with heavily fluted bodies and handles plated in silver with a high-quality finish. The buckets are hallmarked to the base with the Christofle silver plate mark balance stamp used by Maison Christofle from 1844 to 1935, the OC beside a Knight chess figure and the number 30 which refers to the amount of silver used per gram in the plating. The pair of Champagne Buckets date to the first half of the 20th century, Art Deco period circa 1932.

Literature Bevis Hillier, The World Of Art Deco, 1971, see cat number 139, illustrated.

Lucien (Luc) Lanel (1893 – 1966). Was a designer and ceramist who received his training at the École des arts décoratifs in Paris. Lanel worked mainly with silver or silver-plated metals as well as bronze for the companies Süe et Mare and as head of the galvanoplastic department for Christofle in Paris. From 1920 to 1946. As a skilled illustrator he was also responsible for the company’s advertisements. Together with the furniture designer Jules Leleu, he received various commissions for interiors and cruise ships. As early as 1928, he created various ceramics in collaboration with his wife Marjolaine Giradet. After the end of the Second World War, the couple concentrated almost exclusively on ceramic work.

Undulations The pattern named “Undulations” was originally designed for the First Class Dining Room and Bar of the ocean liner, the S.S. Normandie.

S.S. Normandie was a French ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France, for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT). She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat, crossing the Atlantic in a record 4.14 days, and remains the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built.

Christofle is a world renowned French silverware and tableware company that was founded in 1830 by Charles Christofle in Paris. The company is best known for having introduced electrolytic gilding and silver plating in 1842. The company was acquired in 2012 by one of its shareholders, the Chalhoub family’s luxury group.

Gallia was bought by Chrisfole in 1888 however worked as a separate entity. The first Gallia products were proposed at the end of the 19th century by Alfenide Foundry, (A.K.A Alpaca or Neusilber). Christofle allowed it to continue trading under its own brand and Christofle employed experienced French goldsmith, Félix Chéron to manage the Alfenide factory. Later he was commissioned to create a new line of cheap tin-based silver-plated products. The idea was that such a new enterprise was rather risky for Christofle, who at that time dominated on the French market of luxury silver-plated products, and it was decided to introduce the new product under the name of Alfenide. Therefore, on all newly-produced Gallia items the Alfenide mark for silver-plating, a profile of a goat inside a rhombus in a square box, was used. However, once production proved to be a great success the Alfenide mark disappeared and instead, the Christofle mark was used.