Jean-Marie Malzieu (B. 1948), Rotating Armillary Sphere Sculpture

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A striking hand-built wooden sculpture by the French artist Jean-Marie Malzieu (b. 1948), conceived as a celestial armillary cradling a … Read more A striking hand-built wooden sculpture by the French artist Jean-Marie Malzieu (b. 1948), conceived as a celestial armillary cradling a nested constellation of star-polyhedra. Rising 22.25 inches on a turned, tiered circular base—likely fruitwood or walnut with a warm, nut-brown finish—the piece ascends into three intersecting bent-wood meridian rings that read like a Renaissance armillary sphere. Each ring is steam-bent and joined with tiny wooden pegs, a deliberate, traditional joinery choice that keeps the structure visually light while telegraphing the artist’s preference for hand craftsmanship over hardware.

Suspended at the heart of the rings is Malzieu’s signature geometric “star,” here realized as a composition of interpenetrating, open-framed solids. A square-framed core carries a radiating eight-pointed star made from slender, mitred battens; within, a second, smaller star echoes the outer form, creating a hypnotic play of voids and vectors. The geometry recalls the stella octangula and other Renaissance-era investigations of space and symmetry, yet the execution is avowedly contemporary: the batten edges are crisp, the facets read cleanly in the grain, and the natural tonal contrasts between the darker rings and the paler star elements supply the sculpture’s “color.” Light penetrates the latticed volumes, projecting a shifting web of shadows that changes with the viewer’s position—an effect that makes the object feel animated, almost kinetic, despite its fixed armature.

Malzieu’s work sits at the intersection of math, craft, and poetry. This example shows his control over bent-wood technique, compound miters, and invisible pegged joinery, all in the service of a composition that feels both architectural and astral. The overall diameter is approximately 15.75 inches, which gives generous presence on a console or pedestal without overwhelming a room. Condition appears very good, with only minor handling marks to the base consistent with careful display and a pleasing, hand-rubbed patina to the wood throughout. See less