Black Lacquered Steel and Brass Modernist Fireplace Companion Set, French circa 1970

A refined fireplace companion set in black lacquered steel and polished brass, embodying the modernist design sensibility of French decorative arts in the 1970s. The set comprises five tools—shovel, poker, tongs, brush, and broom—suspended from a circular brass ring mounted within a sweeping arched brass frame. The frame descends to a broad, stepped circular brass base whose generous diameter ensures stability while contributing a satisfying geometric foundation to the whole composition.

The high contrast between the matte black lacquered tools and the gleaming brass armature is characteristic of the best French design of the period, when studio furniture and the decorative arts were producing objects that drew equally from the Bauhaus tradition and the more sensual lines of French design. The circular ring suspension allows each tool to hang freely and be retrieved cleanly—a solution that is as elegant in use as it is in appearance.

This type of companion set appears frequently in the inventories of high-end Parisian interior designers of the 1970s, who sought to reconcile the demands of modernist minimalism with the ancient ritual of the open fire. The result is an object at once functional, architecturally coherent, and unmistakably of its moment—neither cold nor fussy, but precisely calibrated for the cultured interior of its era.

In good condition consistent with age, the black lacquer remaining largely intact and the brass retaining its warm lustre. A strong design statement for any hearth.