Tripartite Brass and Églomisé Mirror Coffee Table by Maison Baguès, French Work, Circa 1940

A magnificent and exceptionally rare tripartite coffee table in polished brass and églomisé mirrors, comprising a central rectangular main table flanked by two crescent-shaped demi-lune side tables — the whole forming a harmonious three-part ensemble of great decorative impact. Each surface is finished with an églomisé mirror — glass gilded and painted on its reverse to create a warm, luminous, and uniquely reflective surface of extraordinary refinement. The brass frames are executed with the precision mouldings and architectural detail that are hallmarks of the finest Baguès production. French work by Maison Baguès, circa 1940.

This exceptional ensemble is a work of Maison Baguès, the celebrated Parisian bronze foundry and decorative arts house established in the mid-19th century on the Boulevard du Temple. Baguès was among the most accomplished practitioners of the églomisé technique in 20th-century France, deploying gilded and painted glass in their most prestigious creations — chandeliers, console tables, mirrors, and furniture — to achieve surfaces of a reflective beauty found in no other material. The tripartite configuration of this coffee table, comprising a central piece and two complementary demi-lune companions, reflects the taste for modular and configurable furniture that characterised the most sophisticated Parisian interiors of the 1940s — a form at once rigorous and playful, formal and flexible.

A tripartite coffee table of this form and attribution is an object of exceptional rarity and decorative authority. The ensemble may be used as a unified whole — the two demi-lune tables arranged at either side of the central piece — or separated, with the individual elements deployed in different positions throughout a room. The églomisé mirror tops create a constantly shifting surface of reflected light and spatial depth, animating any interior with a quality of luminous luxury. This is a piece for the collector of the first order: a museum-quality ensemble carrying the full prestige of one of the greatest names in French decorative arts.