Assembled Franco-American Five-Piece Silver Tea Set, second quarter 19th century, by Marquand & Co., New York, with later first quarter 20th-century additions by Tetard Freres, Paris, including Marquand coin (.900) silver pieces: a teapot, h. 11", a coffeepot, h. 11-1/4", and a covered sugar bowl, h. 9-3/4", and Tetard first standard (.950) silver pieces: a hot water urn, h. 19-1/4", and a cream jug, h. 6", each with an inverted pear-shaped body decorated with repousse scrolls and flowers centering a pair of rococo cartouches, with milled palmette banding and acanthus-crested handles, the pots with hinged, domed lids with applied floral finial, ivory-insulated handles and "goose-neck" spouts, the sugar bowl with loose lid en suite and a pair of cast handles, the cream jug with a single handle and "duck's beak" spout, the urn with a pair of acanthus-mounted turned ivory handles, ivory-handled spigot, and raised on four scrolling legs, each with an ivory plinth foot and centering an ivory-handled burner, each piece monogrammed, on one cartouche, "AMV", 177.67 total t. oz. Despite the near century difference in their manufacture, the additions here perfectly duplicate the design and decor of the earlier pieces, and are made with consummate skill. There can be no doubt that they were specifically commissioned to enhance the set, their more recent date belied only by the hallmarks and subtle early 20th-century touches, e.g., the abundant ivory fittings of the urn. Why a French firm was chosen to re-create American Expansionist-Era pieces can only be conjectured, though Tetard Freres would have been one of only a handful of firms up to the task.

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