Pair of Wrought Iron Andirons with Stylised Flamboyant Uprights and Scrolled Feet, by Raymond Subes

This magnificent pair of wrought iron andirons, attributed to Raymond Subes (1893–1970), reveals a more lyrical and expressive dimension of the master ironworker’s art than his better-known geometric pieces. Rather than the austere flat-plate silhouettes for which Subes is most celebrated, these andirons are wrought in the manner of his more decorative production, their uprights composed of multiple slender twisted iron rods rising in a sweeping upward spray — like stylised flames, plant tendrils, or Gothic flamboyant tracery translated into the modernist idiom. The base is formed of boldly curved scrolled feet extending outward with graceful authority.

The interplay of twisted iron rods that constitutes the upright of each andiron is particularly arresting: the individual elements diverge, cross, and reassemble as they rise, creating a complex visual rhythm that catches and scatters firelight in a manner quite unlike the flat surfaces of Subes’ planar pieces. At the top, the rods splay outward into curved scrolled tips, completing the flame or foliate composition with an energetic flourish. This vocabulary recalls the great French tradition of naturalistic ironwork — Émile Robert, Edgar Brandt, the iron lace of historic French balconies — while remaining entirely of the mid-century modern moment.

Subes’ oeuvre encompassed both the severely geometric and the richly decorative, and these andirons represent the latter tendency at its most accomplished. The quality of the ironwork — the precision of the twisting, the clean curves of the base scrolls, the overall sense of technical mastery in the service of expressive form — places this pair firmly among the finer productions of his long atelier career, during which he executed commissions for the ocean liners Normandie and Île de France as well as countless private and public interiors.

In very good overall condition with a warm, even patina throughout. A pair of andirons of remarkable decorative distinction, combining technical mastery with expressive beauty in a manner that encapsulates the finest tradition of French twentieth-century ironwork.