Vintage Brass Intertwined Herons Sculpture on Lacquered Wood BaseFrance, circa 1970

DETAILS:
Size: Height 32 cm (12.6 in) · Length 17 cm (6.7 in) · Width 8.5 cm (3.3 in)
Material: polished brass figures; lacquered wood base in deep burgundy-red
Style/Period: French mid-century, circa 1970
Shipping: professionally packed, fully insured, worldwide
Condition: good vintage condition; brass warm and present; lacquered base with light wear and minor oxidation consistent with age
Returns: accepted within 30 days

The crane and heron were among the mid-twentieth century's most favoured sculptural subjects — birds whose proportions translated naturally into brass: the long neck, the folded wing, the wire-thin leg resolving into a splayed foot. The best examples of the 1960s and 1970s understood that two birds, placed facing each other with necks intertwined, became something more than a decorative object — they became a composition, the negative space between the bodies as considered as the forms themselves.

This sculpture is French, circa 1970, in polished brass on a lacquered wood base, the subject two standing herons with necks extended and intertwined above — each bird leaning toward the other, the long necks crossing and recrossing in a double curve that reads differently from every angle. The bodies are worked in the simplified, volumetric manner of the period: smooth, rounded forms that catch the light across broad surfaces rather than through surface detail, the modernist approach to animal sculpture that owes as much to Brancusi as to the animalier tradition. The feet, by contrast, are cast with individual scaled toes — the one area of naturalist detail that the sculptor retained, and note how it anchors the otherwise abstract forms to something recognisably alive. The lacquered wood base is a deep burgundy-red, the colour contrast between the warm brass and the dark base giving the composition its visual stop at the bottom.

The brass is warm and present throughout; the lacquered base shows light wear and minor oxidation consistent with age, as noted. The composition is sound and the birds are firmly attached to the base. It sits well on a mantelpiece, a console, or a side table.

It arrives professionally packed and fully insured. Returns are accepted within 30 days.

Condition

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A decorative style is not a guarantee of a particular maker or date. See the individual listing for the stated attribution and period.

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Delivery information

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