Three-Panel Polished Brass and Steel Mesh Folding Fireplace Screen

This well-proportioned three-panel folding fireplace screen combines a polished brass frame with finely woven steel mesh panels to achieve an effect of functional elegance that would sit easily in both period and contemporary interiors. The two outer panels fold behind the central section, allowing the screen to be adjusted to the width of the fireplace opening and stored compactly when not in use. At sixty-one centimetres wide and forty-five centimetres high, the piece is ideally proportioned for a standard mid-sized fireplace surround.

The mesh panels are woven in a close, regular pattern that filters the light of the fire effectively while allowing warmth to radiate into the room. The polished brass framing — comprising top rail, bottom rail and the vertical stiles of each panel — is rectilinear and unadorned, its clean geometry suggesting the influence of the modernist aesthetic without departing from the traditional vocabulary of French fireside accessories. The junction of brass and mesh throughout is neatly executed, the framing elements snugly enclosing the mesh on all sides.

Folding fire screens of this type, combining polished brass frames with woven wire or expanded steel mesh panels, were produced extensively in France during the postwar decades, serving as an elegant and practical solution to the problem of containing sparks without obstructing the view of the fire. The quality of workmanship in this example is appreciably above that of the mass-market piece, the brass framing being of a satisfying weight and the mesh panel clean and undistorted.

In very good overall condition, with the polished brass retaining its original lustre and the mesh intact and true throughout. A practical and handsome screen, ready for immediate use, and well suited to a variety of fireplace settings from the period interior to the more eclectic contemporary home.