A FRENCH GEM-SET SILVER-GILT CIBORIUM AND COVER

Placide Poussielgue-Rusand was one of the most important French nineteenth-century church silversmiths. He exhibited and won awards at the Universal Exhibitions of 1878, 1889 and 1900. He often worked with Viollet le Duc, and his work can be found in many important cathedral and church collections. Amongst many other pieces, Poussielgue-Rusand made the reliquary for the original crown of thorns, which in the treasury of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Another example his work is a travelling pyx, decorated with coloured enamel, is in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (M28.1983).