Help with bronze tray

Hi,
I have this bronze tray that is 7" long. It is marked France in a rectangle and the word Depose, it is signed L. Levee. I can not find any information on Levee except he did several bronzes.

 

Bread tray?

 

I'm thinking it's probably a desk item.

It almost seems to match the letter opener shown here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=3V...nepage&q="L. Levee" "bronze" "france"&f=false

 

Probably a business/calling card tray. If it's only 7 inches with the handles it's too small for food. The surface is wrong for that too.

 

Hi,
Thank you for the replies. That letter opener is dated 1915 The other piece I saw made by him/her was 1922. It is so strange that
I can not find any history of L.Levee. I never realized that so many people were doing blackberries during that period. I agree
with either a desk piece or vanity.
greg

 

I'd call it aesthetic style. Inspired by an interest in Japanese design about the turn of the century.

 

Greg,

Here is another item by the same maker. Did you see this one yet?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Antique-Fren...278?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d4afe19de

 

Hi Lucille,
Thanks for the link. I have found several pieces but absolutely no history of L.Levee. So I have pieces stating 1870 to 1930. It is killing me not to know anything about the man/woman.
greg

 

Does anyone speak French.
I saw one listed on ebay France, but when I tried the translate page, I didn't get anything but a blank page.

 

Hi,
I think Vitry would be able to help but I have not heard from him for a while.
greg

 

What's the link? I can read French fairly well.

 

I'm sorry, I couldn't get back on the forums yesterday.
I just tried looking for the link and don't see it.

I don't know how I ended up on the ebay France board. I do know that I had copied the name, L. Levee from another site that had the accent mark over the last "e".

 

I did a quick check and didn't see it, but did find some very nice (cough) lingerie.(LOL)

And this painting. I'm NOT buying it but sure wish I'd found it at that tag sale this morning.
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Tableau-Pein...96?pt=FR_JG_Art_Peintures&hash=item3a756b1198

 

Greg, It may be that some of the better sources are only in printed form. Sometimes it's easy to forget that not all sources have been digitized yet. It also may be that nothing much has appeared in English at this point. -- I don't have any good advice for you. I did some looking and found similar results.

Fig

 

Hi Fig,
Thank you for checking. It just seems so strange to me. I guess I'll have to find someone to go to France and do some research. lol
greg