Parrod 18th Century Style French Silver Tastevin Wine Taster

An example of the early 20th century French silversmith Marc Parrod’s interpretation of a classic 18th century tastevin. Most of Parrod’s tastevins used a serpent handle, but rarer examples such as this have a tab handle engraved with some sort of vaguely naughty wine-related image and caption. In this case, the design shows a naked woman standing over a fire while a cherub blows to fan the flames. The 2nd century motto, “Sine Baccho friget Venus” translates to “Without Bacchus, Venus would freeze.” In this case, Bacchus represents wine and Venus represents love. The bowl is decorated with clusters of grapes and a trailing vine motif. Parrod was well known for his fantasy tastevins based on ancient designs and was a favored silversmith of the Burgundy’s wealthy wine elite.

• Origin: France, c. 1903-44 (likely toward the earlier part of the period)
• Condition: excellent
• Dimensions: 2-1/2” x 3-5/8” x 13/16”
• Weight: 50.0 g