Charles Christofle, 1805-1863, Silversmith [obverse] 1892

This is Louis-Oscar Roty's medal commemorating Charles Christofle, the renowned silversmith, created at an unknown date using an unconfirmed medium. The medal presents a tripartite structure, each section meticulously detailed, inviting a comparative reading of industry, science, and art. Roty uses the triptych to dissect Christofle's legacy into its foundational elements, each framed scene acting as a signifier within a broader semiotic system. The left panel depicts industry. On the right panel, art is signified by an idyllic landscape. The medal challenges fixed meanings by presenting industry, science and art. It invites a structuralist interpretation of how each discipline informs and elevates the others. The silver medium enhances the medal's reflective quality, suggesting that Christofle's work embodies a synthesis of these domains. The medal serves not merely as a commemorative object but as a dynamic interplay of signs, open to ongoing interpretation within the cultural and philosophical currents of its time.