Sculpted Brass Coffee Table with Fish Base and Round Glass Top, France circa 1970

This extraordinary coffee table stands as a masterwork of French sculptural furniture of the 1970s, a decade that saw the finest artisanal workshops push the boundaries between the decorative and the fine arts. The entire base — cast with exceptional quality in golden brass — takes the form of a large fish in full sculptural relief: fins outstretched, body arched in mid-movement, its powerful tail spreading as if just clearing the surface of water. The casting is of the highest standard, with every scale, fin, and anatomical detail rendered with a precision that rewards close examination.

The fish rests on a tiered circular plinth, also in brass, which both anchors the composition and provides a satisfying formal resolution to the dynamic energy of the figure above. The round glass top completes the piece with a lightness that refuses to compete with the sculptural base, allowing the fish to assert its full presence.

Furniture of this type — drawing on the tradition of animalier sculpture as translated into functional objects — was particularly fashionable in France and Belgium during the 1970s, where workshops producing spectacular brass wildlife tables acquired devoted collectors. The quality of execution here places this piece firmly in the upper tier of that production.

A spectacular and highly decorative piece in excellent condition, the brass retaining its rich golden tone. The glass top is present and intact.