Italian Silver Gilt Ecuelle Pair with Figural Fish and Fowl

You feast with luminous matching silver gilt ecuelles or legumiers in the French style probably by am unidentified 20th c. Huguenot-influenced Italian silversmith. These oval shaped covered dishes are of a plain body with a gadroon border at the rim lavishly gilded with a bright gold. The handles are embellished with palmier motif that cradles a bouquet of lilies, roses, and morning glories. Surmounting the lids are naturalist scenes reminiscent of Grinling Gibbons or Palisse. Within the elaborate scene of the first, a small school of captured perch and trout rests upon fresh cut boughs interlaced with cattails, snails, and clams. On the other handle, two types of game birds are lain atop laurels of oak and olive with their requisite fruits. The interiors are simple with a bright gold finish. Each of the four pieces (lids and dish) are marked with a set of four pseudomarks including the English-type lion passant, potted flowers in an oval cartouche, and a couple of other maker marks such as I.I B and PR. Reminiscent of the workshop of Franco Lappini.

5" x 7" x 13" in length and about 1900 grams on the pair. Wrought of solid silver, gilded.

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