Curved Three-Panel Fire Screen in Polished Brass and Black Grille, in Style of

This remarkable curved fire screen is one of the most elegant expressions of French design sensibility from the 1960s and 1970s, a time when decorators and metalworkers sought to combine functionality with modernist sculptural form. Unlike conventional folding screens, this example is constructed in a gentle arc with three panels, each adorned with a fine black steel mesh and framed with a polished brass edge, creating a seamless curved silhouette that naturally fits the opening of the fireplace. The combination of polished brass and black steel mesh was one of the most favoured material pairings in French decorative ironwork of the time — the warm gilded brass and matte graphite mesh providing a counterpoint in maximum elegance. The brass frame is straight and minimalist, its clean lines reflecting the influence of the International Style; the mesh panels introduce a subtle play of light and shadow as the glow of the flames filters through their fine weaves. The three panels are arranged in a continuous arc of approximately ninety-four centimetres in width, with a depth of fifteen and a half centimetres at the deepest point and a height of fifty centimetres — proportions ideally suited for a medium-sized period fireplace. The fire screen stands freely on its lower brass rail, its curved shape providing inherent structural rigidity without the need for additional feet or supports. In very good overall condition, the polished brass retains its original warm lustre and the mesh is intact and undistorted. A discreetly exceptional piece of French design from the 1970s, equally suited to its primary function as a fire screen as to its appreciation as a fully-fledged sculptural decorative object.