Pair of Brass and Wrought Iron Chenets with Triple Volute and Mount Torch Holders

This refined pair of brass and wrought iron andirons demonstrates the formal intelligence and decorative inventiveness that characterise the finest Art Deco ironwork produced in France around 1940. Each piece is composed around a central vertical post, with a decorative programme unfolding in a sequence of carefully designed motifs: at the base, a semi-circular arch rests on the hearth; from this rises the decorated stem, whose central register features a large closed lyre or heart shape flanked by paired volutes; and above, the stem extends into a crowning torch with triple volute — a motif of great elegance that echoes the volute vocabularies of Louis XVI ironwork while remaining undeniably of its own modernist moment. The attribution to the taste of Raymond Subes is accurate: it is precisely the formal register in which Subes and his circle operated, translating the classical language of European decorative ironwork into a contemporary idiom that was original without being merely fashionable. The closed lyre shape at the centre of each post is a device with a long history — from Rococo furniture embellishments to Empire ormolu — here stripped of its historicist weight and rendered in the language of controlled organic abstraction that defines Art Deco ironwork in its finest expression. The material — a combination of brass and wrought iron — is treated with the assurance of a skilled craftsman. The brass elements bring their characteristic warm golden tone, while the iron ensures structural solidity and a formal contrast that prevents the piece from becoming merely decorative. The patina that has developed on the surface of both metals has unified the overall tone, imparting a tranquil antiquity to the pair. At 33.5 cm in height, these are andirons of an intimate scale, suited to a domestic fireplace of moderate proportions. Their compact format conc.