■ CANDLE HOLDER, Maison Puiforcat, Paris, late twentieth century, in silver-plated metal (métal argenté) on a weighted core, the cylindrical socket rising from a shallow stepped circular base, the whole of architecturally disciplined geometry - the polished cylindrical vocabulary drawn from the Modernist silver idiom established by Jean Puiforcat in the 1920s and 1930s and maintained by the Maison in its twentieth-century production.
Excellent condition consistent with age and use, with light surface scratching to the base and socket consistent with silver-plate and with domestic use; the plating intact throughout. Height approximately 5.5 cm (2 ⅛ inches); diameter of base approximately 8 cm (3 ⅛ inches); weight 955 g.
The underside struck with the Maison Puiforcat house mark - the initials "EP" (for Émile Puiforcat, founder of the firm) within a rectangular cartouche — alongside the stamped legend PUIFORCAT FRANCE. No Minerva-head hallmark, the piece belonging accordingly to the Maison's silver-plated line and not to its solid-silver production.
Maison Puiforcat was founded in Paris in 1820 and established itself through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as one of the principal houses of French silver. Under the direction of Jean Puiforcat (1897 - 1945), fourth-generation director of the Maison, the firm became the defining voice of French Modernist silver of the interwar period, Jean's severe geometric vocabulary and his interest in mathematical proportion shaping the Art Deco silver tradition. The Maison has continued production under successive ownership - fully joining the Hermès group - and its silver and silver-plated lines draw consistently on the formal vocabulary that Jean Puiforcat established.
See also:
□ Item #00002. Maison Puiforcat Tazza.