Art Deco Sculpture Featuring Two Wading Birds And A Turtle, Marble And Onyx, Circa 1930

A significant Art Deco sculpture composed of a marquetry of polychrome marbles and onyx supporting two wading birds and a tortoise made of patinated metal.
The composition is a true stylized landscape. A large disc of beige and honey-colored striped onyx represents the rising sun, enlivened by a circular jade-green stone cabochon and rays of cherry-red marble and green onyx. In front of it stands a cloud-like formation in veined gray marble, with the rounded contours characteristic of 1930s decorative design.
The tiered base features overlapping geometric planes: a gray marble top, terraces of honey-colored onyx, and red marble and green onyx chevrons forming a pattern of broken lines typical of Art Deco.
Set against this scene are two herons with finely engraved plumage, featuring a brown patina accented with gold on the breast and flight feathers. One stands upright, its neck bent toward the sky; the other leans forward on its perch, gazing at a small turtle placed at the center of the composition.
The piece as a whole illustrates Art Deco’s Japanese-inspired taste for wading birds, the rising sun, and stylized nature, rendered here with an uncommon richness of materials.