Elegant pewter fruit bowl decorated with vine branches. Around 1870

Tin, a metal known since antiquity, under the name of “stannum”. Used by the Greeks to make bronze, it has many qualities. However, on 30 October 1870, Pierre did not think about this age-old knowledge when he went to the factory. France was under siege and rumours were circulating that Paris might fall…. Thinking of his family, who have remained in the Rhone valley, he takes the liberty of adding the vines of his childhood to the bowl of fruit he has to produce. Little does he know how many wars and deaths await France and Europe in the decades to come.

Stories do not necessarily correspond to reality. They are only given to illustrate a possible context of origin.