A superb Art Deco bronze group by French sculptor Maurice Prost, showing a matched pair of panthers moving in a tense, nose‑to‑nose encounter as they descend opposite ramps of a tiered base. Each feline is modelled with taut musculature, low head, and extended stride, capturing the latent power and silent, predatory movement for which Prost’s work is highly regarded.
The panthers are cast in rich, dark patinated bronze with a subtle sheen that emphasizes the sleek planes of the bodies while retaining crisp detail to the head, shoulders, and paws. Their long tails curl elegantly at the tips, introducing a sinuous, linear counterpoint to the strong horizontals of the composition. This refined balance of anatomical observation and stylized contour is characteristic of Prost’s mature Art Deco idiom and aligns with his celebrated single‑panther models produced with leading Parisian founders in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
The animals stand on a striking stepped base composed of black, rectilinear elements that rise and fall beneath their paws, all set on a warm wooden plinth. The base introduces an architectural rhythm that echoes the period’s skyscraper silhouettes and presents the bronze as a true decorative centrepiece for a console, low bookcase, or Art Deco sideboard. Overall, the group reads as a long, low frieze of movement and shadow, highly decorative yet firmly sculptural.
A rare and impressive work for serious collectors of Art Deco bronzes and French animalier sculpture, comparable in quality and presence to Prost’s sought‑after panther models recorded in period and contemporary literature.