Antique Silver-Plated Bowl, Empire Style Lion Head Handles and Grapes — Europe, 19th Century

The Empire style borrowed its vocabulary from imperial Rome with genuine conviction, and the lion — emblem of strength and vigilance — appeared across the decorative arts of the period on everything from furniture mounts to tableware. A bowl with lion-head handles, its body fluted like a classical vessel and its rim dressed with hanging grape clusters, was designed to announce the same authority at the dining table that a Roman triumphal arch announced in the street: the confidence of a style that never doubted its own grandeur.

This bowl is European, nineteenth century, in silver-plated metal, its form a deep round basin rising from a stepped circular foot bordered with a fine gadroon edge. The body is worked in broad vertical fluting, the classical device that gives a round vessel visual structure and catches the light along each channel. At the rim, the edge rises and falls in a continuous scalloped wave, punctuated at intervals by cast lion-head handles — each mask modelled with a full mane and an open ring held in its jaws — and by hanging swags of grapes and leaves cast in high relief beneath a shell-form cartouche. Note how the grape swags droop naturally from their points of attachment, the weight of the fruit rendered convincingly even in cast metal — the detail that separates a considered Empire-style casting from a flatter, more mechanical reproduction.

The bowl has been cleaned and is sold as seen — the exterior silver plating presents well, with normal wear to the interior plating consistent with age, as noted; there are no visible dents or repairs. It sits well on a dining table, in a classical interior, or displayed in a cabinet as a piece of decorative silverware.

It arrives professionally packed and fully insured. All duties and import charges are our responsibility — you pay nothing beyond the listed price. Returns are accepted within 30 days.

DETAILS:
Size: Height 9.5 cm (3.7 in) · Diameter 13 cm (5.1 in)
Material: silver-plated metal
Style/Period: Empire style, European, 19th century
Weight: 503 g (1.1 lb)
Shipping: professionally packed, fully insured, worldwide — all import duties paid by us, nothing to settle on delivery
Condition: good general condition; normal wear to interior plating consistent with age; no visible dents or repairs
Returns: accepted within 30 days

Read our condition standard. Please ask if you need additional photographs or measurements.

Worldwide delivery is included in the price. Every piece is individually packed, tracked and fully insured. No shipping charge is added at checkout. If your destination is not listed, please contact us before ordering.

Maison Jaspers pays US tariffs and import duties. For other destinations, local import taxes and duties may apply and are payable by the recipient. Contact us before ordering if you need destination-specific guidance.

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Delivery information

Notify us within 30 days of delivery if you wish to return a piece. No reason is required. You pay return shipping for a change-of-mind return.

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