Maison Puiforcat, Silver-Plated Tazza, France, c.1990

A silver-plated tazza by Maison Puiforcat, France, circa 1990. The piece is a house edition produced in silver-plate following Jean Puiforcat's original solid-silver autograph design of circa 1930, with the underside stamped PUIFORCAT FRANCE and the EP (electroplate) cartouche identifying the silver-plated production. Jean Puiforcat (1897-1945) was the leading French Art Deco silversmith of the interwar period, known for his reduction of decorative-silver vocabulary to geometric volumes and faceted ornament. The original solid-silver tazza in this design - coupe raised on a stepped pyramidal base with a faceted faux-lapis stem - exemplifies Puiforcat's distinctive synthesis of Cubist geometry with the lapidary traditions of French luxury silversmithing. A

fter Puiforcat's death, Maison Puiforcat has continued to produce silver-plate house editions of selected designs from his autograph oeuvre, of which this tazza is one example. The coupe is broad and shallow, raised on the characteristic stepped silver-plate base with the faceted blue faux-lapis composition glass stem set as the central jewel-like element. Dimensions: Dm 24.2 × H 9 cm.