The Archbishop of Paris' Ewer and Basin

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A French Silver-Gilt Ewer and Basin
Paris, 1819-38
Maker’s mark of Pierre-Marie Devilleclair

Length of basin: 37.5 cm, 14.7 in
Weight: 2,397 g, 77 oz 1 dwt

The baluster ewer with detachable foot and leaf chased calyx,
fruit and serpent spewing handle ending in a warrior's mask, detachable cover with swan finial, applied and chased with a border of scrolling dolphins and bulrushes, repeated at the oval basin interrupted by Neptune masks.

PROVENANCE

Originally this ewer and basin had a contemporary fitted case applied with an armorial engraved plate. The coat-of-arms of the plate are those of Affre, for Denis-Auguste, Archbishop of Paris, born in 1793 and ordained in 1818.
After a number of diocesan posts, he was created honorary vicar-general of Paris in 1834 and archbishop in 1840.

Although his brief episcopate was marked by conflicts with the chapter and several congeregations, it was noted for good ecclesiastic studies and the publication of outstanding pastoral letters. He defended academic freedom against the government of Louis-Phillipe, and was a supporter of the republic proclaimed in 1848, but his attempts to restore peace in the insurrection of June of that year led to his death at the barricade of Faubourg-Saint-Antoine - one of three archbishops of Paris who died tragically in the last century. The treasury of Notre-Dame de Paris contains various of his gifts, including a tortoiseshell reliquary, gilt-wood altar cannons and reliquary busts of St Peter and St Paul. He is commemorated by a stained-glass window in the treasury by Marécel of Metz, and a marble bust.