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President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, first lady Brigitte Macron, gave President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden a Christofle silver centerpiece on December 1 to mark their state visit. The piece, known as the Transatlantique Coupe, was created in 2012 and evokes the lines the company was commissioned to create in the early 20th century for the famed French ocean liners the Ile-de-France and the Normandie. Image courtesy of Christofle

French president and first lady give Bidens Christofle centerpiece

Sheila Gibson Stoodley
Sheila Gibson Stoodley
President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, first lady Brigitte Macron, gave President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden a Christofle silver centerpiece on December 1 to mark their state visit. The piece, known as the Transatlantique Coupe, was created in 2012 and evokes the lines the company was commissioned to create in the early 20th century for the famed French ocean liners the Ile-de-France and the Normandie. Image courtesy of Christofle
President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, first lady Brigitte Macron, gave President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden a Christofle silver centerpiece on December 1 to mark their state visit. The piece, known as the Transatlantique Coupe, was created in 2012 and evokes the lines the company was commissioned to create in the early 20th century for the famed French ocean liners the Ile-de-France and the Normandie. Image courtesy of Christofle

WASHINGTON – For the occasion of their state visit to the White House on December 1, French President Emmanuel Macron and first lady Brigitte Macron selected a Christofle centerpiece as a gift to American President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden.

The French president and the first lady opted for a historically significant design: the Transatlantique Coupe. Fashioned in the sleek Art Deco style, the centerpiece recalls the tableware that Christofle was commissioned to create for the first class cabins of the Ile-de-France and Normandie ocean liners — the most luxurious transport between France and the United States during the golden age of steamship travel. The Elysee Palace specifically chose this piece for its symbolic meaning and purchased it from Christofle’s Parisian flagship.

Created in 2012, the Transatlantique Coupe is marked by a wide-rimmed, silver-plated bowl punctuated with four perfect spheres, all polished to a high mirror shine. The piece is further personalized with a hand-engraving of the French presidential seal on its base.

The clean, graphic lines pay homage to Christofle’s heritage of pioneering designs during the Art Deco era, particularly two historic collections — Continental and Albatros — which were commissioned in 1927 to furnish the first class dining room of the Ile-de-France steamship and, from 1935, the Normandie, whose lavish interiors are a touchstone for modern design and which remains the fastest passenger ship to ever cross the Atlantic. Both collections were created by Luc Lanel, Christofle’s in-house designer.

The Macrons presented their gift to the Bidens on the evening of December 1 at a gala dinner celebrating the relationship between France and the United States.