CHRISTOFLE. Duck press in silver plated metal decorated with palmettes and leafy volutes (some wear to the silvering). About 1900. Marked and numbered 1873434. Height : 50 cm 50 cm - Width : 33 cm - Depth : 22 cm Mounted on a mahogany base. This press belonged to Mr. Alfredo Guedes, a rich Brazilian who lived in Paris at the turn of the last century, uncle of the current owner's grandmother. According to the family tradition, this press came from the restaurant La Tour d'Argent in Paris that Mr. Guedes liked to frequent. In 1890, Frédéric Delair, a maître d'hôtel who became the owner of La Tour d'Argent, codified the recipe for duck in blood or "Tour d'Argent duck" that would make the restaurant famous. He finished the dish in front of the customer and accompanied it with an illustrious service ritual, cutting the duck with the tip of a fork, without letting it touch the dish.