A fine silver-gilt and enamelled coffee set made for Sultan Abdulhamid II (1876-1909), by Marie-Amélie Cardeilhac, Paris, circa 1905

comprising a coffee pot, lampstand and matchstriker, cup and saucer with spoon, sugar bowl and cover, a saucerine receptacle and a tray with green handles and feet, possibly lacquered wood, all worked en suite with foliate garlands and crescents, variously set with enamelled gold plaques decorated with a tughra and imperial insignia, all of the pieces stamped with a maker's mark 'A.C.' with a crescent and a foliate motif within a diamond-shaped field and the stamp of Minerva's head, encased within the original leather-covered box set with a brass plaque inscribed 'S.A.T. Abdul Hamid II'

Couleurs d'Orient, Brussels, 2010

Brussels 2010, p.101

This impressive coffee set is beautifully made and presented in a manner befitting the ownership of a sultan. The receptacles are double-skinned and carefully cast in fine detail in a style that embraces a distinct element of Art Nouveau. The mark is probably that of  Marie-Amélie Cardeilhac, the widow of Ernest Cardeilhac, who worked as a silversmith in Paris between 1904-1909. The head of Minerva  is a stamp indicating Parisian manufacture after 1838.