Meiji Japanese Style Bronze Tea Caddy Set by Leopold Oudry Paris c1880

  

Our collection of gilt and patinated bronze vessels in the Japanese Meiji style carry the stamped mark, OUDRY, of Leopold Oudry of Paris, circa 1880. Included is a tea caddy with lid and three cups in two sizes, each with the raised gilt figures of insects, fish and exotic birds. Vessel with cover measures 6 1/2 inches tall. Beakers measure 3 3/4 and 2 1/2 inches tall. Our client has this item for sale in their New York gallery.

Leopold Oudry (active since 1854)Lcopold Oudry in 1854 founded his electrochemical company in the village of Autcuil (annexed to Paris in 1860) at n. In 1855, Oudry is known for his cast vases and statuettes coated with pure copper deposited by clectroplating, a process whose Parisian silversmith Charles Christolle had bought the patents in 1839.

Jean-Charls Alphand, director of public roads and walks in Paris under Napolcon III, understood the advantage of this system for the beautification and conservation of monumental fountains and public candclabra. Oudry was then commissioned for galvanic plating all cast objcets and monuments of the City of Paris. The factory located in Auteuil becoming unsuitable, Oudry created thus a larger one at n. 10 bis route de Versailles, welcoming an average of 150 workers.

Participating in the famous Universal Exhibitions, Oudry won a 2nd class medal at the 1855 Paris World Fair. At the 1862 London Universal Exhibition, Oudry exhibited vases, candelabras and statues made in bronze or iron, copper- or bronze-coated using the same technique.