French work, 1990s

H 85 x W 117 x D 35 cm

Wrought iron and gold leaf

Very good condition

The platform is a hammered sheet of metal with raw edges, cut with a flame, into which two strips of gold leaf are inlaid. It rests on two gilded spindles tapering to a point, crossed by flat black irons and joined by a curved bar; two arrow-shaped irons descend from the platform towards the ground, without supporting anything.

Jean-Jacques Argueyrolles, born in 1954, belongs to the generation of blacksmiths who, in the 1980s and 1990s, moved wrought iron beyond mere pastiche, treating it instead as a material to be sculpted. The contrast between rust and gold is his signature style.

The forging process leaves each piece with its own surface imperfections: variations in rust and lack of gilding are part of the object, they are not defects.