PARIS 1819–1838 Pair of 950°/°° silver butter dishes inspired by the design of the tea service for Napoleon and Marie-Louise of Austria, crafted in 1810 by Biennais. Oval in shape, they rest on four legs cast in the form of winged caryatids, with the rear interiors in gilded metal. The two ovals, which held the original crystal bowls, feature the same decorative motif of a frieze of posts, rosettes, oves, and spearheads. Silversmith: Jean-Charles CAHIER, admitted to the guild in 1801; his first hallmark: a Jehovah. Hallmarked within one of the scrolls of the surrounding frieze, along with the old man and the guarantee mark Net weight: 1,410 g - length: 24 cm - width: 14 cm - height: 8.5 cm Since Biennais sold his business to CAHIER in 1821, along with “the dies, hallmarks, and manufactured goods then in the workshop,” it is entirely possible that the models present in the workshop were used to create these butter dishes. Source consulted and excerpted from: Anne DION-TENENBAUM: 19th-Century Goldsmithing, the Louvre Museum Collection: pages 56, 269, and 271