Rare and Important Brass Coffee Table with Smoked Glass Tops, Guy Lefèvre for Maison Jansen, French, Circa 1970

This rare and imposing coffee table — in polished brass with multiple smoked glass tops — is among the most impressive examples of the Guy Lefèvre and Maison Jansen production of the early 1970s. The piece's generous dimensions and architectural composition, combining a precisely engineered brass framework with the mysterious depth of smoked glass shelves, create an object of compelling visual authority. The interplay between the warm gleam of polished brass and the dark transparency of the smoked glass is a masterclass in the sophisticated material contrasts that defined the finest French luxury design of the decade.

Guy Lefèvre (1933–2003), the pre-eminent creative force at Maison Jansen from the 1960s, brought to the storied Paris house a formal vocabulary of rigorous Neoclassical precision married to a 1970s sensibility for bold scale and luxurious materials. His tables, consoles, and case pieces — invariably in polished brass, lacquer, or gunmetal, and frequently incorporating glass — became among the defining objects of their era. The Jansen house, founded in 1880 and internationally renowned since the interwar period, provided Lefèvre with both the technical resources and the prestigious clientele needed to fully realize his ambitious vision.

A coffee table of this size and quality would serve as the centerpiece of any important seating arrangement. Its multiple glass levels offer exceptional display and storage possibilities — for books, objects, and flowers — while its overall composition is magnificent enough to stand on its own as a sculptural statement. For collectors of postwar French luxury design, a piece of this distinction and attribution represents one of the most significant opportunities currently available on the market.