French designer and ironworker Edgar Brandt understood traditional materials and chose to explore their potential. He used hand-tools but also relied on machines. Brandt set up a workshop in 1901 and by 1925 was exhibiting on the world stage at the Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exposition of Decorative Arts and Modern Industries).
A design he showed on this occasion was La Tentation, a lamp featuring a serpent. A subject of antiquity that appeared in ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian culture as a creature to both be feared and revered. It was an exotic motif also employed by other leading Art Deco designers including René Lalique, Jean Dunand, Albert Chereut and Paul Jouve.
The serpent was a recurrent motif in Brandt’s work appearing on andirons, vases, cachepots, paperweights and incense burners, but is perhaps best remembered in his two lamps designs, both of which were produced in bronze between 1920-26.