Neoclassical Brass Coffee Table with Carrara Marble Top by Maison Jansen, French Work, circa 1940

Among the most refined creations of Maison Jansen, this neoclassical brass coffee table with a Carrara marble top distinguishes itself by the nobility of its materials and the purity of its lines. Maison Jansen, founded in Paris in 1880 and under the artistic direction of Stéphane Boudin the preferred supplier of the greatest aristocratic residences in the world, is here at its most eloquent, combining the structural perfection of neoclassical brass with the mineral majesty of Carrara marble.

Carrara marble, quarried since Antiquity from the celebrated Tuscan quarries of the Massa-Carrara region in Italy, is the quintessential white marble of the Western tradition. Its milky whiteness and delicate grey veining made it the preferred material of Renaissance sculptors from Michelangelo to Canova. Employed by Maison Jansen for this table top, it lends the piece a luminous lightness that contrasts magnificently with the golden warmth of the polished brass base.

A rare piece of absolute elegance, this Jansen brass and Carrara marble coffee table represents the pinnacle of French reception furniture of the 1940s. Its excellent state of preservation, with an intact marble top, makes it an exceptional acquisition at the crossroads of decorative art and the history of taste.