Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Cupid drinks Champagne (French Antique Guessing Game Continues)

Ange_2

The Guessing Game Challenge had many original entries. Amazing responses! I don’t think I will ever be able to look at that silver tray in the same way. In fact each day I will imagine it as something you guessed it to be.

Terri B wrote, "It’s where Cupid lays his bow and arrow after he comes home from a long day on the job!" Isn’t that a romantic thought! How I wish that were true. Imagine the stories Cupid would share each night with me. Gosh talk about girl talk late at night.

Trianonpainting

When we were in Paris over the New Year we went to Versailles where King Louis the Sixteenth and Marie Antoinette lived. If you come to France you must go there to dream, it is a place of dreams. In each room Chelsea and I would talk about the color of dress we would wear. (You thought we talked about history? Oh no, pure fantasy is what we shared.) Most of our dresses were picked in pastel color in silk taffeta. We noticed, as we went from room to room, that our dresses become more elaborate. Diamond buttons, ribbons dyed with rose petals…you know pure girl stuff.

I must stay on track and not wander off the subject oops! Let’s get back to the silver tray…. "Let them eat cake," did not help Marie- Antoinette live in the castle of Versailles for very long… Katherine Miller wrote, "Obviously, this was used for catching the lopped off heads during the French Revolution. No horrid little basket or box for the French when something lovely will work better. Viva La France!"

Frenchcastle

Often when reading blogs it stirs up memories that are buried and asleep. Annie Elf shared one of her memories, "Years ago when my grandparents’ house was heated by a fireplace only, my grandfather would take the cold remains of the spent fire and place them in a beautiful, shallow silver dish. Carefully he would carry the spent ash outside and generously sprinkle the ash over his beloved garden. He fed from beauty to create beauty. He had the most beautiful petunias in the neighborhood."

Trianoninterior

Many of you guessed the silver tray to be something to hold a crown, or a hair-brush set, or for love letters, possibly flowers or fruit, maybe calling cards, or for perfume bottles, or false teeth…Some thought it was a fancy bed chamber pot!

Olivia added, "When a soldier from Napoleon’s army arrived at a social gathering the servant would meet him with this wonderful tray. He would put his gloves on it and his gun so that he wouldn’t sit in the gentile parlor and accidentally blow his leg or anyone else’s off?"

Sheila wrote, "A tray to hold the communion wafers." I must admit I like this idea way over vomit, a bed pan and chopped heads.

Angelfrench

Kim shared a divine thought about the silver tray, "I keep seeing water in it, held for a baptism, they sprinkle the water on the child from it." Kim’s thought made me wish I had saved some of the baptismal water from my children’s baptism to keep in a little bottle.

GardenstatueVersailles

Marie-Noelle, my French friend who is brilliant at research, (though the silver tray stumped her too.) gave this thought: "As you focus on the plump cherub and as we are now in an "after-fast" period, … AND because at that time the meals lasted for so long with their fifty or more courses…
I would say … or rather whisper (breaking all romantic ideas) this answer:
A silver plate in which they could throw up before carrying on with the next courses…" As Marie-Noelle then offers her apologies, "My apologies to your readers… The French DID so in the past – even if my answer does not suit here …" Isn’t that nice that Marie-Noelle thought of our feelings after she shared vomit with us!

Versaillescastle

Sue K thought the silver tray might not be a silver tray but instead, "…a light fixture or chandelier…perhaps the metal rim that holds the glass globe?"

Versaillesle grand trianon

Like I said, the French have a certain savoir-faire. Their culture is rich, intoxicating, it reaches into you and pulls your heart to the surface. Romance and practicality go hand in hand. Much as beauty with nature.

Grandtrianon

Unfortunately, the answer was not found in any of the responses. Though there were a few that hinted closely towards the reality.

I’ll leave the comments open for another day and hope that someone finds the correct answer. Here are some hints, that came close but not exactly the answer I am looking for:

Kitem said, "RAFRAICHISSOIR? I remember my old Auntie Marcelle had one on her dining table in the formal dining room. I wonder what happened to it?"

TACE offered, "…to set a small cask of wine on/in it?? To raise it up before raising a glass."
The answer about the silver tray, and the winners will be announced tomorrow hopefully!!

Photos taken on our trip to Versailles, inside: The Grand Trianon.

Comments

63 responses to “Cupid drinks Champagne (French Antique Guessing Game Continues)”

  1. Jeanne

    A toast to the new year is how appropriate………for drinking champagne.
    Oooh La La The photographs are divine.
    And so are YOU.
    I love you dearly.
    Love Jeanne
    Such delightful answers to your quiz.
    They all ought to be in show biz~
    Giggles

    Reply
  2. TACE

    Hmmm….maybe to hold a champagne bucket? With ice to keep the bottle cold?

    Reply
  3. Melissa

    Is it used to hold a glass container? A vase or trifle dish?

    Reply
  4. Pauline

    My memere had a silver tray that held champagne glasses and my pepere would (with a mocking grin) carry the tray on high on his palm as he wove his way through the throng of gathered relatives on special occasions. Memere’s tray was not decorated with cherubs – instead, silver roses bloomed around its outer perimeter. Oddly enough, when she inherited it, my own Mama would pile it high with fruit…

    Reply
  5. Hasmin

    Wow! no one guessed correctly? hmmm…another guess would be…a tray that holds a wine caraffe, enabling the wine to “breath” before embibing.

    Reply
  6. Vicki

    Perhaps this wonderful piece was used as a verriere….chilling a wonderful bottle of french wine or champagne???? Loved your pictures…..memories of my recent trip there…it is truly a romantic beautiful place. Whatever it is it is divine!!!

    Reply
  7. mama is quilting

    Does it hold some sort of other food serving dish – like a casserole?

    Reply
  8. Julie Loeschke

    I’m sure someone guessed this, but my grandmother had something like this, and she used it to serve bread or rolls.

    Reply
  9. Nicole

    Hello !
    I haven’t read all th comments but I would have said : a bowl to display flowers or bulbs.
    I’ll come to morrow to discover the answer !
    Best wishes
    nicole

    Reply
  10. Paris Parfait

    For the record, Marie Antoinette never said “Let them eat cake.” That was slander spread by her enemies. Such interesting guesses your readers have provided! I have a post today about a window from the Trianon Palace, which has come home with me! So glad you got to visit Versailles! I visited four times last year with various guests and always discover some new delight.

    Reply
  11. Ardi

    Is it a salt cellar/sellar?

    Reply
  12. Edi

    To spit out the wine into after tasting – or drinking too much.
    or
    The bottom of a ice bucket???

    Reply
  13. Beverly

    Well, I am not very imaginative with theses guessing games, but I thought I’d read through the guesses from yesterday…over 140!
    I’m not reading all of those guesses!
    So, I’m not sure if this has been guesses yet or not…but this really looks like some sort of cake platter to me.
    Hope someone gets it!
    (We play a guessing game at school, and I always give the answer after three wrong guesses. Have mercy on us Corey!)

    Reply
  14. Edi

    large wine bottle coaster?
    part of a champagne bucket?

    Reply
  15. Linda

    I believe the piece is a plateau for holding a bottle of champagne. I have enjoyed the guesses for your game.

    Reply
  16. destinationmetz

    I can’t wait to revisit Versailles. The gardens are so beautiful. When I went the first time I knew nothing of the history so now that I’ve sat down and read a book about Marie Antoinette I would actually like to go back, I think it would make the experience so much more enriching.

    Reply
  17. Candy

    I had such fun reading this post. Your readers are so amazingly creative!! How fun for you! And the pictures – well, you have an incredible eye. Apparently there are angels and cherubs all over Paris. Another guess…was it used to chill the wine before imbibing? or simply a plate holder for the cake that was to come?

    Reply
  18. phyllis

    Goodness I thought for a minute this was your home…although I do believe it probably isn’t much different with your affection for wonderful old french things!
    A platform for a …what is that word…MAGNUM of Champagne?
    _______________________________
    Hi Phyliss
    I wish!!! Though I dread cleaning that place! It would take a lifetime, or at least a couple hundred servants!

    Reply
  19. Dee

    I think this tray would be used for a romantic evening…to hold a bottle of champagne…two beautiful fluted glasses…plump strawberries with a bowl of melted chocolate for dipping.

    Reply
  20. Dee

    P.S. Beautiful pictures! Makes me want to go back to Paris!

    Reply
  21. naturegirl

    Corey I shall visit Versailles when I am in Paris in Aug! Based on your photos here a stop I must NOT miss! Thank you for sharing!
    ————————————–
    Hi Anna
    Versailles never disappoints me. It is so beautiful I could go there a million times and always see something for the first time!

    Reply
  22. AnnieElf

    I’m thinking. I’m thinking. Hummmm, this is where the corks in the bottles were placed after being removed from the bottles. Yes???

    Reply
  23. Mary

    The answer is certainly going to be a surprise after so many wrong guesses – I love this game and can hardly contain myself while waiting. Thanks for your e-mail Corey.
    Versailles – why oh why do I always miss visiting there when in Paris – I have to go after seeing these fabulous photos you took. The woman on tiptoe – the emerald silk curtains – the crystal chandeliers – the chairs to die for – such beauty.
    Loved your game with Chelsea – dressing in grogeous ball gowns – will they allow one to enter in blue jeans?

    Reply
  24. Paula

    A tray for the breakfast toast????
    Beautiful images today, Corey. I’m swept away in your fantasy.

    Reply
  25. Linda

    I’m going to fine tune my guess. It is a plateau to hold a bucket or container used for chilling champagne or wine.

    Reply
  26. angela

    As always you have the most fun on your blog!!! I don’t know if anyone has guessed that it could be a trivet? Being from the south(Georgia)US, obviously a little redneck in us, our exclamation at supper(not dinner) would be, “you ain’t gone sit that hot pot on my table, jess grab that thang over ther and sit dat pot in it!” Obviously I have never had a trivet that was that ornate but I have never been to France either! Thanks for letting me play Corey.

    Reply
  27. Miz Booshay

    Could it be…..
    If it is not for champagne glasses, I shall guess….
    I shall guess it is the fanciest milking bucket in the world.
    Pampered cows, indeed.

    Reply
  28. Sue K.

    Well, I truly think my chandelier guess was a good one, especially after you showed some fabulous ones in the palace at Versailles.
    However, I’m going to guess again. Is this the base/support for a lovely soup tureen?
    Incidentally, it will be 7 years this coming March since my DH took me to Paris (and Versailles) for our 4th wedding anniversary. It was life-changing for me. I loved Versailles, and the history, walking in the Hall of Mirrors, admiring the gorgeous ceilings, but…I took the most pictures of the doorways in the village!
    Thank you for all these lovely reminders of such a special time in my life.

    Reply
  29. nicollette

    Perhaps a simple tray to hold things such as a hairbrush, comb, perfume? I have one (much plainer with a mirrored bottom) and that’s what it’s used for.

    Reply
  30. Di Overton

    WHAT? We have to wait another day – this is killing me 🙂

    Reply
  31. martina

    To hold glasses of wine or liquor at a table or scented and moist fingertip towels/nspkind to refresh one’s hands between courses?

    Reply
  32. ~Kim

    If it is not a trivet (my first guess), or for holding letters (my second guess), I will guess a third time…
    Is it an ice bucket?

    Reply
  33. Elizabeth Meredith

    It is used for draining the leftover wine from the glasses when the table is cleared. This is then presented to the cat who has a slight drinking problem.

    Reply
  34. Marie-Noëlle

    Is the answer in Grand Trianon ???!!! ….
    Should have bought a pass on my last visit(July 2007).

    Reply
  35. Elizabeth Meredith

    It is a receptacle for ice.

    Reply
  36. Ariane

    Is it used to hold the lovely crystal decanters of various liquors?
    Ariane

    Reply
  37. melissa @ the inspired room

    Oh I have no idea. What a fun game! What is it? Tell me!
    I didn’t get to go to Versailles but many of these photos take me back to all the glorious places I visited on my journey, amazing places of beauty & history.
    xo

    Reply
  38. Laura

    It is the drip-plate of the Napoleonic champagne fountain! (the no electricity required version). Place the coupe above or on the tray while it fills with champagne! No drips on the lovely linens.
    I chose this answer because it’s far too lovely a tray to be a crachoir, right?

    Reply
  39. lorie

    Isn’t Paris wonderful? I loved Versailles too!
    I’m guessing it’s a base to put a large punch bowl on top of/in..?? Only the best for the French!
    Lovely pictures and words, as always.

    Reply
  40. le petit cabinet de curiosites

    I didn’t play , because I am very bad to guess …and I don’t have any clue …well I would have thought about rafraichissoir for grapes ..but it has been already said and it was not the correct answer ..SO
    so funny to read , Chelsea and you were playing princess ‘ game , I love to do it and in the same time than you I was doing it in Istanbul Topkapi , thinking which jewell , crown , aigrette , I would choose and instead of being a female harem it would have been a male one ….i would tell you more , my friend ..

    Reply
  41. Kel

    Oh Corey, I am perplexed! Is it a Cachepot?

    Reply
  42. Linda

    Is it to hold glasses-the kind you drink out of?

    Reply
  43. Jane

    No more guessing but I just want to say your photography is outstanding! Thank you so much.

    Reply
  44. Chantal

    Oh what wonderful photos your shared here!!
    My second guess is that this wonderful silver tray is the ancestor of our modern ice bucket. A bottle of the finest white wine or champagne would be placed in the centre of the tray, amidst the most beautiful and ornate (of course!) hand carved ice cubes 🙂

    Reply
  45. Britt-Arnhild

    Is it a tray for ice, and then you put a glass bowl filled with icecream on top and the icecream stay frozen?

    Reply
  46. Rosemary

    Hi Corey,
    Can’t wait to find out what that beautiful piece is really used for.
    Rosemary

    Reply
  47. Anne

    I visited Versailles during a January when it was nearly empty. I was transported to a different world, alone in those rooms with no one to disturb my fantasies. It was shocking to discover myself wearing a coat and walking shoes in my photographs. I distinctly remember wearing dresses such as you and Chelsea described. Trick photography???
    Your guessing games are so much fun but nothing surpasses your photography. Clicking on the photographs to enlarge and see them better is to have dessert for breakfast with my coffee.
    Merci!

    Reply
  48. Cynthia

    I’m stumped
    Could this beautiful object be something
    that holds………… “POTPOURRI”
    Last Try

    Reply
  49. Teresa

    Okay Corey, one more guess..I am going to say it was used as a wine funnel.
    Way too much fun, your guessing games are!!
    Teresa
    xo

    Reply
  50. Edi

    A monteith! for cooling drinking glasses.

    Reply
  51. Elaine L.

    Is it a Wine Cistern?
    ~elaine~

    Reply
  52. jennifer Paganellli

    Do you sell things anywhere ..I love your eye….I want to visit France so badly!!!! Someday my dream will come true. Jennifer

    Reply
  53. Pat

    I missed out on this guessing game and look forward to the answer.
    I came by to tell you how much I enjoyed the Victoria article. I finally got around to reading it this afternoon. I picked the magazine up at the grocery store…I ereally should subscribe!!
    Pat

    Reply
  54. Olivia

    Corey! How do you do it! You have transported 150 of us “guessers” to a huge long table in a hall at Versailles completely engaged in an after supper parlour game. Enchanting!! I could not find “rafraichisoir” in my french dictionary, but I assume it mean something like “to refresh the evening”. So here are my final guesses: 1.a tray with absinthe (if they had it in the 1700’s?)with sugar and flame etc. or bottles of eau de vie? 2. a tray for cheeses (this wouldn’t refresh me after a big supper but we are often served this in france. 3. a tray of playing cards or “jeu de tarots” 4. a tray of perfumes and mirrors to compose oneself after the rigours of the meal. I love these guessing games!!! Thank you for your ingenuity.

    Reply
  55. mary

    Thanks for this very interesting and cultural account of these developed answers… which I read all the way through, looking forward for THE answer which proved to be just a clue !!!
    Then I guess it was meant to contain ice or ice-cubes… well, ice to be added in glasses !!!
    As for the mistletoe on my blog, it is a tradition to hand it at the ceiling or light, and people should kiss underneath at midnight, entering the new year…

    Reply
  56. mary

    … or maybe was it something to put a plant in it… and then it was possible to water it at the bottom… or to put flowers, picked on some moss, for decorating the table ?

    Reply
  57. Elaine L.

    O.K. I’ve been doing more research and if it is a wine cistern, I’m not quite certain if it was filled with water to chill the wine bottle or filled with water to rinse the wine glasses after the wine had been drunk? I can’t wait to find out what it is!!!
    ~elaine~

    Reply
  58. m

    I was with my Parents this afternoon and showed them your photos…at the same time I asked my Mother about her tray with the glass insert…she said “I gave it to your cousin E, she loved it so” Oh!!!well 🙂
    Then my Mother told me that she will give me the Tisane cup and warmer…”Your cousin was also admiring them”
    “Tisane” I said “To my Health a little bird told me” see how things come together?
    There is a beautiful silver rimmed cut glass jar that is missing on your piece…A lovely French woman had it at her bedside table filled with Tisane…do you have the little silver scoup that went with it?

    Reply
  59. Mo’a

    In the post that says posted by m…c’est moi, Mo’a

    Reply
  60. My Melange

    Corey,
    Is it Napoleon’s spittoon? That must be it, cause I am outta guesses!!!!!

    Reply
  61. My Melange

    Ok, I have read, read and re-read. Studied every flipping word. This is my last one. No, really. It is.
    Is it some sort of angled tray used at the table for pouring-you set a champagne bottle in so that the sediment settles at the bottom of the bottle?
    Or a bon-bon tray???

    Reply
  62. Alison Whittington

    If your hints didn’t lean so strongly toward “cold,” I would guess a brazier to keep things warm or a perhaps fondue melting tray.
    At a cafe in Philly, you can order s’mores that come with a little burner, and a tray of graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate bars. You can melt the marshmallows and assemble the s’mores right at your cafe table. What fun, right? Ah, but I never ordered that. I always meant to… and then I moved away.

    Reply
  63. ~Kim

    Corey,
    I was flipping through the new Victoria magazine and happened to see a picture of what looked like one of these things that we are trying to guess what it is. Only it was white and maybe smaller. It looked pretty sitting on the table…I started looking at the other pictures on the page and thought, wow, this house is really pretty…oh my goodness, it is YOUR house!!! Ha~ha! I had forgotten that your photos were to be featured in Victoria! VERY beautiful. I enjoyed reading about your life and how you decorate your beautiful French home. But I still don’t know what that thing is! 🙂

    Reply

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