Three-Panel Neoclassical Brass and Wire Mesh Folding Fireplace Screen with Scalloped Crest Rail. France. Circa 1970.

This handsome three-panel folding fireplace screen combines the practical protection of fine wire mesh with the decorative ambition of neoclassical brass framing and a characterful scalloped crest rail. The centre panel is surmounted by a raised arched and scalloped upper frame that gives the composition a lively decorative vitality, its rhythmic undulating profile punctuated by small decorative brass elements at the peaks. The two flanking wing panels share the same mesh construction and fold forward on hinges to form a stable, self-standing enclosure around the hearth. At 53.5 cm wide and 60.5 cm high, this is a screen of substantial presence suited to a medium-to-large fireplace opening.

The brass framing — tubular sections forming the vertical stiles, base rail, and decorative crest — is finished in a warm antique tone consistent with the neoclassical register of the design. The wire mesh, woven in a fine diagonal basket pattern, provides excellent spark protection while permitting the radiant warmth of the fire to pass freely. The combination of decorative framing and functional mesh is characteristic of French fireplace screen production in the late twentieth century, when the traditional crafts of the ferronnier and the mesh weaver were still practised by specialist workshops.

The screen is in good overall condition, the brass framing retaining its original finish and the wire mesh intact throughout with no significant tears or deformations. The hinges operate smoothly and the screen stands stably on its base. Minor surface patination to the brass is consistent with age and adds warmth to the finish.

Neoclassical folding brass and mesh fireplace screens of this type were produced in considerable numbers by French workshops during the 1960s and 1970s, meeting the demand for decorative accessories suited to the period fireplaces of French bourgeois interiors. The scalloped crest rail distinguishes this example as one of the more elaborately finished variants of the type, approaching in decorative ambition the more refined productions of specialist Parisian workshops.