Coffee Table by Guy Lefèvre for Maison Jansen, Black Lacquered Metal, Brass and Malachite Resin, Circa 1970

A rare and exceptional coffee table, this piece by Guy Lefèvre for Maison Jansen is a tour de force of luxurious materials and artful construction. The structure is fashioned from black lacquered metal, providing a sleek and dramatic framework, while bold brass claw feet anchor the composition with a touch of neoclassical fantasy. The crowning glory is the tabletop, finished in resin worked to imitate the sumptuous green swirling patterns of malachite — a semi-precious stone long prized for its extraordinary decorative qualities.

Guy Lefèvre was among the most gifted designers associated with the legendary Maison Jansen, the Parisian decorating house founded in 1880 by Dutch-born Jan-Pieter Jansen that went on to furnish the most distinguished residences and royal palaces in the world. Working under the direction of Stéphane Boudin's successors in the late 1960s and 1970s, Lefèvre developed a personal vocabulary that reconciled Jansen's neoclassical grandeur with the bold materials and graphic contrasts of the new decade. His works are increasingly sought by collectors as quintessential expressions of high French design of the period.

This coffee table is a collector's dream — a piece that brings the authority of a great French maison into any interior, whether a period apartment or a contemporary loft seeking a singular historical accent. The interplay of matte black lacquer, warm brass claw feet and the jewel-like malachite resin top creates an object of almost theatrical richness. Placed at the heart of a living room, it transforms the surrounding space and speaks eloquently to those who recognise quality.