AN EARLY 20TH CENTURY FRENCH SILVER GILT CHALICE & PATEN, c.1900, a beautiful piece, hallmarked to paten, chalice rim, support, foot and base. Hallmarked with French silver mark, head of Mercury facing left with 1 beneath, as well as Maker’s mark PB for Paul Brunet, a French specialist creating works intended for the church, active in Paris from 1871-1913. The chalice has a stepped circular foot, decorated with four enamel painted panels separated by figures, with architectural border to central stem, which features nodule of thorns. The bowl is decorated with lion, bull, eagle and angel: the Tetramorph, along with Latin scroll reading ‘hic est enim calix sanguinis mei’ (for this is the chalice of my blood). The paten is decorated with Chrismon and the Greek letters Alpha and Omega. The rim of the base is engraved with presentation message (‘In memory of John and Margaret Muldoon Sister Helen’) and the underside is marked ‘Made in France’, numbered and marked with Maker’s mark PB for Paul Brunet, France (his distinctive Makers mark features the letter PB with a miter/mitre in between, a bishop’s hat). Dimensions: chalice: 18.5cm high x 13.7cm diameter to top; 15.4cm diameter to base. Paten: 15.5cm diameter approx. Total weight: 36ozt approx. More about the Maker: Paul Brunet was a French specialist creating works intended for the church, active in Paris from 1871-1913. He was awarded several medals at exhibitions (1876, 1878 etc) and his works are preserved in Museums and cathedrals in France.