Bronze Tabletop Mobile

Nine bronze leaves, each with a hole punched through, hanging in perfect disagreement.

This tabletop mobile is contemporary, made of aluminum and bronze. The hanging mobile is a 20th-century invention, generally credited to Alexander Calder, whose balanced arms and cut-metal shapes have been borrowed with affection ever since. Here a slender post rises from a flat triangular foot to carry a long crossbar. Wire arms branch and zigzag down the left side, each ending in a dark bronze teardrop or rounded leaf, most pierced with an off-center hole. Two more hang at the far right, one large, one small. It is 24 inches wide, 12 deep and 16.5 high.

A little breeze, and the whole committee reconvenes.