As early as 1842 the French firm Christofle & Cie. began perfecting a mixed-metal technique known as galvanoplastie, a type of silver electroplate, which enabled a cast to be taken directly for the artist's model thus preserving the fine detail. The innovative technique also allowed the firm to create a multi-colored effect that directly coincided with the growing fascination with Japanese and Chinese arts, including metalwork (momuke). The pre-eminent designer of these French mixed-metal works was the artist Emile-Auguste Reiber (1826-1893), dubbed the ‘high priest of Japonisme,’ who had rose to Director at the firm of Christofle. Reiber used his technical prowess in orfévrerie, galvanoplastie and bronze-work to create works that were innovative both technically and artistically in their combination of materials, many of which were exhibited by the firm at the 1874 Exposition de L'Union Centrale, the precursor of the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, and subsequently at the 1878 Exposition universelle. A tea service exhibiting similar double-gourd motifs is illustrated H. Bouilhet, Cent cinquante ans d'orfèvrerie Christofle, Paris 1981, p. 152. A related pair of candelabra of the same Reiber design sold Hotel Drouot, 31 May 2024, lot 2 (€32,000).