Italian Mid-Century Fire Screen in Smoked Glass and Burnished Brass, 1960s

The fire screen is built as a plane suspended between a few elements. A rectangular sheet of smoked glass stands upright on two triangular supports in burnished brass, one at each flank, and carries at the top a bridge-shaped handle fixed by two spheres of the same metal. The piece has no frame: the glass stays bare, a clean screen between viewer and fire. The two triangles hold the sheet through the sole tension of the fixings.

The screen is cut from smoked glass of substantial thickness, in a grey-blue tone that tempers the view without blocking it. The two triangular feet and the upper handle are worked in brass with a burnished finish that subdues the light without masking the metal itself: the material remains legible on the cut edges and in the spherical heads of the through-screws, left visible as a decorative feature. The assembly is reduced to essentials: two threaded rods clamp each support to the sheet, while the handle is fixed by the same system at the top.

The fire screen is attributed to Tobia Scarpa, a central figure in Italian design from the 1960s onwards, active with his wife Afra for Cassina, Flos, Venini and B&B among others. The design language of the piece is consistent with the period: geometric reduction of the elements, glass treated as an autonomous surface, metal fixings that do not conceal their function but declare it through details such as the exposed brass spheres. The 1960s dating is supported by the compositional syntax of the piece.

The fire screen is in condition consistent with its age. The burnished brass shows a uniform patina with some surface marks and areas of natural oxidation along the flat sections, to be expected with time. The glass sheet is intact, with no cracks or chips; light surface deposits remain, removable with ordinary cleaning. The fixings hold the sheet stable.

Dimensions: Height 56 cm (22.0 in) x Width 80 cm (31.5 in) x Depth 25 cm (9.8 in)