Édouard-Marcel Sandoz

Private collection, Paris

Fernand Roches, "La Question de l'art décoratif et notre temps", L'Art décoratif, May 1914, p. 176

Salon des humoristes catalogue illustré 1926, exhibition catalogue, Galerie La Boëtie, Paris, March 7 - April 30 1926, p. 100

Félix Marcilhac, Édouard Marcel Sandoz - Sculpteur, figuriste et animalier 1881 - 1971. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre sculpté, Paris, 1993, the model referenced under number n° 1101, p. 442-443

The Perruches pencil tray by Édouard-Marcel Sandoz is one of the rare examples of the artist's direct-cut sculptures designed as utilitarian objects. Sandoz's singular poetry is expressed here in the rhythmic elegance of a line of stylised parakeets, discreetly watching over their owner at work.

According to the photograph reproduced in the catalogue raisonné drawn up by Félix Marcilhac in 1996, this work seems to correspond to the model referenced, although it is described there as being made of limewood. Presented at the Salon de la Société des artistes décorateurs in 1913, then at the Salon des humoristes in 1926, the Perruches bear witness to Sandoz's inventiveness in combining sculpture and function.