Sterling Silver Panda Plate:
Dated 1974 and numbered A376.
Size: Diameter 200mm, Weight 216g.
Price: £135.
The panda was one of a limited edition set of five sterling silver “Wildlife Series” plates (along with a gazelle, a giraffe, a rhinoceros and a lion) produced by French artist Bernard Buffet between 1973 and 1978.
Bernard Buffet (1928 – 1999) was a celebrated painter, printmaker and sculptor. Born and raised in Paris he studied art at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and worked in the studio of the painter Eugène Narbonne. By the 1950’s he was considered to be one of the most important cultural figures in France. Although his lavish lifestyle and enormous output led to a decline in his reputation he was named “Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur” in 1973 and in the same year the Bernard Buffet Museum was founded in Surugadaira, Japan.