Pair of Firedogs

Designed to hold logs, chenêts (firedogs or andirons) take their name from the French word for a small dog. A pair of chenêts would rest inside a fireplace, their gilt bronze decoration concealing the wrought-iron bars that supported the firewood. The gilt bronze elements often could detach from the iron supports, so that they could remain safely out of the way during fireplace use. These, distinctive for their very refined decorative elements, are attributed to Pierre Gouthière, the most famous bronze caster in France in the late 1700s.