Bookends are sculpture with a job to do, and few subjects ever suited that job like a pair of rams. When the confronting-animal motif spread through European decorative arts in the twentieth century, the charging ram became a natural choice: an animal whose whole purpose is to press its weight against something. Apart, these are two sculptures; with a row of books between them, they become one charge.
The pair dates, by design, material, and patina, to the mid-twentieth century — an informed estimate, as they are unsigned and no maker is recorded. Each ram is cast in solid brass with spiral-ribbed horns curling close against the head, mounted in a rearing stance on a black-finished wooden plinth base with a rounded front edge. Note how the weight is thrown onto the forelegs, hindquarters low and braced — the stance of an animal mid-charge, not an animal posed. The brass has mellowed to a warm, uneven gold, with natural verdigris settled deep in the recesses of the horns where a century of polishing cloths never reach.
The patina is even across the bodies, and the wooden bases show light, honest wear to their edges, with small chips to the black finish consistent with decades of shelf duty. Whoever owned these rams before you kept them working. They are ready for a library shelf, a desk, or the mantel of a study.
Each ram is over half a century old by our estimate and still standing its ground. The pair arrives professionally packed and fully insured — we handle the paperwork and worldwide shipping. Returns are accepted within 30 days.
DETAILS:
Each bookend: 17.5 × 11 × 12.5 cm (6.9 × 4.3 × 4.9 in) — each roughly the height of a hardcover novel
Cast brass figures on black-finished wooden bases
Sold as a pair · Unsigned, no maker recorded
Condition: good vintage condition; warm even patina with natural verdigris in horn recesses; edge wear and small finish chips to the wooden bases
