‘St. Christopher’ silvered bronze plaque by J & J Martel, 1932

Sainte-Christophe

A beautiful and very rare silvered bronze plaque featuring a Modernist relief of St. Christopher striding across stylized waves, with Christ perched on his shoulder. Most likely designed as a personal good luck talisman due to its scale, the Martel Brothers were commissioned to create a number of religious reliefs just like this one, in bronze (some to very large scale) to adorn the altar and organ of the chapel of the celebrated ocean liner SS Normandie, in 1932. The plaque is signed J. MARTEL in the bronze and has its own bespoke calfskin presentation case. French, circa 1932.

Size of plaque: 2¼ x 1½ inches (6 x 4 cm)

Details: The chapel organ on the SS Normandie, 1935,  a large plaster maquette for Sainte-Christophe, 1935

Note: A similar example of this plaque can be seen in images from the archive of the Canadian Center for Architecture, siting on the library shelf in the office of Villa Cavrois, the Modernist mansion built in 1932 by Robert Mallet-Stevens for French Industrialist Paul Cavrois.

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