Pair of Hammered Wrought Iron Cobra Andirons in the Style of Edgar Brandt

A magnificent pair of wrought iron andirons of powerful sculptural presence, conceived as rearing cobras with their hoods fully spread—one of the most dramatic and iconic motifs in the repertoire of French Art Deco and post-war decorative ironwork. Each andiron rises from a tightly coiled spiral base representing the snake’s body, the sinuous neck ascending to a bold, convex hood of hammered iron that dominates the composition with both authority and menace.

The iron has been worked by hand with a hammer, giving each surface a characteristic textured finish of overlapping facets that catches and deflects light in constantly changing patterns. This hammered quality—battu in the French tradition—is both a technical accomplishment and an aesthetic choice, producing a surface that reads as animate and organic, evoking the scales of the serpent it represents. The close detailing of the cobra’s hood reveals the skilled chasing of the metal and the refined treatment of the reptile’s features.

These andirons belong to the distinguished tradition of figurative ironwork established by Edgar Brandt (1880–1960), whose cobras, serpents, and wildlife motifs brought a combination of symbolist drama and modernist rigour to the French decorative arts. Brandt’s cobra andirons, produced from the 1920s onward, became among the most sought-after examples of French Art Deco metalwork; the present pair, executed in the same spirit with great skill, is a worthy homage to that tradition.

A pair of exceptional decorative quality and sculptural force, in very good condition. These cobras will command the fireplace with drama and character.