Pair of Stylised Brass Duck Andirons in the Taste of Les Lalanne, Circa 1970

This captivating pair of brass andirons, each conceived as a standing stylised duck, exemplifies the playful anthropomorphism and zoomorphic ingenuity that distinguished the very best French decorative production of the 1960s and 70s. Created in the taste of Claude Lalanne (1924–2019) and François-Xavier Lalanne (1927–2008) — the celebrated husband-and-wife duo whose transformation of animals into functional objects became one of the defining aesthetic programmes of twentieth-century French art — the pair possesses the same quality of delighted invention that made Les Lalanne’s work so enduringly beloved by collectors worldwide.

Each duck is rendered in polished brass as a compact, rounded body rising from webbed feet, the neck extending upward in a gentle curve to a simplified beak and characterful head. The modelling achieves precisely the effect the Lalanne aesthetic demands: the animal is instantly recognisable yet simplified to the point of archetype, stripped of all anecdotal naturalism in favour of a form that is at once sculptural, decorative, and entirely functional as an andiron. The warm golden tone of the brass gives each figure a presence and warmth that is heightened by firelight playing across the polished surface.

The log bars extend from the body of each duck, integrating seamlessly into the composition — the body of the bird literally becoming the upright of the andiron, in an elegant conflation of form and function that is the hallmark of this aesthetic register. The pair was clearly conceived as a unified composition, each duck the mirror image of the other, forming a symmetrical hearth-side dialogue.

At 25 centimetres tall and 18 centimetres wide, the ducks are charmingly proportioned for a standard fireplace, compact enough to complement rather than dominate the hearth. In the current market, Lalanne-inspired animal objects from this period command strong collector interest, and this pair — with its excellent craftsmanship, warm patina, and direct lineage to one of the most celebrated design vocabularies of the twentieth century — constitutes a highly desirable acquisition.