Mitraspir

The wind god was a staple of French advertising — that rosy, puff-cheeked cherub who blew ships across oceans and smoke from cigarettes. Léon Dupin recruits him here for a more domestic mission: purging chimneys of their backdraughts and bad draws. The result is a poster of genuine wit, the great breath of the heavens harnessed to solve the very earthly problem of a smoky hearth. Plus de mauvais tirages, plus de refoulements — the promise is printed at the top, and the image makes it irresistible.

The Mitraspir device sits astride a chimney stack against a crisp Art Deco horizon, the city silhouetted below while the cherub blows with operatic conviction, the smoke billowing in spirals to the left. Printed by Joseph Charles, Paris — one of the great lithographic houses of the interwar era — the typography alone is a small masterpiece: the bold yellow MITRASPIR with its cunningly integrated letter-A turned into a miniature chimney pot.

This piece is sold unframed, carefully rolled and shipped in a rigid tube to ensure it arrives in pristine condition.