The mid-19th century saw a revival of the Rococo style, originally emerging in France during the reign of Louis XV (1723-1774). The style reached the height of popularity in the 1750s and 1760s, being replaced by the neoclassical style, but experienced a revival in mid-19th century England as one of many decorative and artistic styles from the Ancien Régime that inspired artists and makers across Europe. The influential Parisian silversmith, Charles-Nicholas Odiot, had spent time at the London based workshop of Garrards & Co., returning with the English fashion for naturalistic Rococo style objects in 1820. Although it initially caused controversy, the style grew in popularity over the next century.
The bulbous shape of this urn, produced by Pierre Francois Augustin Turquet, is decorated with scrolling cartouches filled with elaborate floral castings, which along with its blossom finial, evoke the designs of the Rococo movement. The straighter lines of the matched stand display distinctive neoclassical motifs, especially in the lion paw feet, and acanthus leaf legs, however, the shell clips and silver scrollwork allude to Rococo emblems popular throughout the 19th century.
