The Hôtel Drouot Reopens for the Season with the “Oeuvres Choisies”

Two great collections of French silver literally shine in the exhibition. Marcel Sztejnberg has spent nearly a lifetime assembling examples of regional French production of the 15th through 18th centuries. The pieces are often of curious form and ornamental treatment, reflecting taste beyond Paris, with most bearing clear hallmarks and crests that document manufacture and ownership. Perhaps the most unusual piece on display—and one of the costliest—is an 18th-century traveler's necessary in gilt silver. Housed in its original silk-lined case, the kit contains a goblet, folding cutlery, condiment receptacles, and a corkscrew fitted with a removable cylindrical nutmeg grate of which the finial unscrews to store the nutmeg itself. The traditional forms and provincial ornamental motifs of the Sztejnberg collection disappear entirely with the sumptuous table service offered…