Important Neoclassical Brass Coffee Table with Double Leather Tops, Maison Jansen, Circa 1940

Of commanding presence and exceptional quality, this coffee table presents two leather-topped surfaces set within a generous brass structure of neoclassical inspiration — an ensemble of the kind that would have graced the most distinguished salon of a Parisian hôtel particulier. The brass framework, precise and assured in its metalwork detailing, provides the architectural scaffolding for the two leather tops, each finished to demonstrate the quality of hide characteristic of the finest French atelier production. The combination of gleaming brass and sumptuous leather — materials long associated with masculine luxury and the grand library or smoking room — here attains an urbane refinement that speaks directly to the Jansen aesthetic at its most authoritative.

This table is attributed to Maison Jansen, the legendary decorating house founded in 1880 on the Rue Royale, whose reputation under the direction of Stéphane Boudin (1888–1967) became synonymous with the highest standard of French interior decoration in the twentieth century. Jansen's neoclassical vocabulary — drawing on the Directoire, Empire, and Regency styles and translating them into objects of timeless luxury — is here expressed with characteristic confidence in the pairing of brass and leather. Coffee tables of this type were produced by Jansen for the grandest private commissions, and their dual leather surfaces reflect the practical intelligence of the house's design philosophy: supremely beautiful to the eye, functional in use, and built to endure through generations.

This table would preside over a salon de réception, a grand drawing room, or a distinguished library with the authority of an exceptional piece. The combination of neoclassical brass and leather is among the most enduringly sophisticated in the French decorative vocabulary, adapting as naturally to a period interior as to a refined contemporary space. A rare opportunity to acquire an important piece from one of the most celebrated names in the history of French decoration.