LES ARTISANS DE MAROLLES & DU LOIR-ET-CHER, 20th CENTURY Wrought iron cockerel Very small stains Height 74 cm - 33 cm Provenance : Pio Zanotti Collection and descendants Bibliography : Collectif, Jean Touret, Éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 2022, variants of our model referenced under no. 103 and reproduced on p. 117. Probably made by Francis Dewaele, an ironworker in Marolles as early as 1959, this rooster is part of the production initiated by Jean Touret (1916-2004) in Marolles, Loire et Cher, at the turn of the 1950s. Jean Touret deplored the general public's taste for standardized furniture, manufactured in industrial materials, forgetting traditional know-how and taking work away from local craftsmen. He decided to create an association to produce furniture and decorative objects with local craftsmen, combining the skills of a cabinetmaker, a wrought-iron worker, a basket-maker and, later, a ceramist. Jean Touret's ambition was to develop a simple, noble and contemporary aesthetic, while preserving the archetypal forms of rustic furniture.