Odiot at the Paris Exhibition of 1867 - "Le Travail a la Forge" The Pétin Surtout de Table. A monumental French silvered-bronze figural centerpiece and pair of matching twelve-light candelabra, designed and modeled by François Gilbert, chased by Paul Diomède for Odiot, Paris, 1867

the base of the centerpiece with four seated noble craftsmen bearing the tools of their trade, their feet surrounded by the new products and machinery of the modern steel industry, the border with medallions depicting various machines, mining and transport scenes, the central stem with ships' prows branding cannons below the oval basin, with further medallions and shields inscribed with the names of the towns in which Pétin owned factories and mines: Assailly, Gevors, Sardaigne, St. Chamont, Toga, Rive-de-Gier, Clavieres, Unieux, the candelabra similarly decorated, each on shaped circular base decorated with floral and foliate ornament, with two male figures holding tools of the steel industry, the twelve branches divided in two tiers and decorated with applied foliage and classical ornament over a partly matted ground

Commissioned by Hippolyte Pétin (b.1833), French industrialist and steel manufacturer

Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1867

Art Journal, Illustrated Catalogue of the Universal Exposition, 1867, London and New York, illustrated p. 111
H. Bouilhet, L'Orfèvrerie Fancaise aux XVIIIe et XIXe Siécles, Paris, 1912, vol.3, p 67, ill. p. 70, 73
C. Kanowski, Tafelsilber für die Bourgeoisie, Berlin, 2000, pp. 106-107 et seq. see footnotes 268 (2), 269 for further bibliographic references.
J E Puiforcat, L'Orfèvrerie Française et Etrangère, Paris, 1981, p. 108

one small knob missing from between two candle arms, top tier of one candelabra bent slightly and a few arms out of alignment, some flaking to plating at edges of bases, otherwise good, big, impressive and important
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Hippolyte Pétin (born 1833 in Allier-Moulins) was a French industrialist and steel manufacturer, parallel to the Krupp and Thyssen firms and to Andrew Carnegie.  The firm of Pétin, Gaudet & Cie. operated foundries and mines in France, Sardinia, and Corsica, with factories in the Loire, Indre, and Rhone departments, with 5000 workers producing 50,000 tons of iron and steel per year and an annual turnover of 35 million francs.  The firm  began producing naval artillery and armor plating for battleships just as the Crimean War opened in 1853, and by the 1867 Exhibition had their own booth as one of the country's foremost metal producers, showcasing among other products their guns and heavy machinery.

The same year as the Exhibition, M. Petin commissioned this important three-piece garniture from the firm of Odiot.  The order is recorded in the company's books in June of 1867 for 32,000 francs, of which 14,000 were for providing the models.  The sculptor was François Gilbert, who designed Napoleon III's great monumental silver-plated surtout of 1853-54 by Christofle (see Versailles et les Table Royales en Europe, nos. 356-359, pp. 246-47 and 371-77).  He had recently moved to Odiot, and the massive and masculine style of this surtout, with its closer ties to Second Empire monumental sculpture than to the usual repertoire of silver decoration, demonstrates the style he brought to the established firm.  It was thought highly appropriate for this particular commission, with one of the Exhibition critics pointing out, "what would you think of a service destined for this Vulcan if it were decorated with chubby-cheeked putti and sentimental doves?"  The Illustrated Catalogue of the Exhibition proclaimed:

We engrave on this page two other of the works of M. Odiot, the renowned Silversmith of Paris.  He exhibits largely, contributing mainly to uphold the honour of his country.  All his productions are of the highest order of Art; they are, indeed, works of sculpture, and eminent sculptors have supplied the models.  The first piece has been executed for the eminent "metallurgiste," M. Petin, and represents the several phases of his "industrie," illustrated by figures, medallions, & c.  It is a fine and very grand composition, most admirably carried out.