Antique Ciborium. Champlevé Enamels. France, Circa 1920

Extraordinary antique ciborium with Champlevé enamels made in France circa 1920. This is actually a magnificent piece, very rare and with an uncommon beauty. The ciborium remains in perfect condition and is decorated with finely-preserved delicate enamels which provide it with a singular attractive look. The French word champlevé means elevated field and stands for a technique in which the artist engraves or molds the metal in order to create small cells with different shapes. Later, the cells will be filled with enamels in different colors. This technique is slightly different from the classic cloisonné enameling; in the latter, the cells are created by welding metal straps to the base. The ciborium that we can see in the images has bronze foot and stem and solid-silver cup. The cup bears no visible hallmarks but it has been acid-tested and we can guarantee that its silver. The whole piece bears a fine neo-gothic-style decoration, attractive and original. The foot is shaped like a six-petal flowers and is divided in six sections. Three of them bear embossed motifs depicting the classic Eucharistic symbols: the wheat stalks, the grapes in the vine and the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God). The three remaining sections are covered by a lovely decoration in white enamel with tiny bronze stars. Over this background, each section shows a central red and turquoise circle. The circles contain different symbols: the Sacred Heart, a Latin cross and the IHS acronym. The ciboriums foot gets narrower when meets the stem. This part is entirely covered by white enamel and golden stars. The main node is shaped as a star itself and is composed of six cylindrical branches. Each branch bears a champlevé enamel detail at the end, with turquoise background and bronze embossed motifs. The cups base bears the same floral design as the foot, with six petal-shaped sections alternating white enamel and golden stars and bronze embossed motifs. Last but not least, the ciborium is crowned by a beautiful lid which repeats the same structure and motifs as the foot. Any religious-art buff will surely appreciate the rareness and amazing condition of this extraordinary antique French ciborium with Champlevé enamels. Dimensions: Width: 5.71 in / 14.5 cm. Height: 12.6 in / 32 cm.