Neoclassical Brass and Brushed Steel Coffee Table with Glass and Églomisé Mirror by Maison Jansen, circa 1940

This outstanding coffee table is a tour de force of Maison Jansen’s neoclassical furniture production during the 1930s and 1940s. The architectural frame in polished brass and brushed steel deploys the full vocabulary of classical ornament — tapering legs, column shafts, foliate capitals, and moulded stretchers — executed with the precision and refinement that distinguished Jansen’s ateliers from all competitors. The upper surface is in clear transparent glass, whose translucency creates an effect of visual lightness entirely appropriate to the neoclassical ideal of elegance without excess, while the lower shelf is finished with gilt églomisé mirror, adding a layer of warm, reflective luxury to the composition.

Maison Jansen, founded in Paris in 1880, was for more than a century the undisputed leader in the field of French interior decoration. Working successively under Jean-Henri Jansen and then Stéphane Boudin, the house achieved a standard of conception and execution that no rival could match, supplying complete interiors to the palaces of kings, the residences of presidents, and the finest private homes in Europe and America. The neoclassical coffee table in brass, steel, glass, and églomisé mirror was one of the definitive Jansen forms of the interwar period: simultaneously recalling the refinement of the Louis XVI tradition and expressing the modernist taste for transparency and material contrast that animated the best French decoration of the era.

Presented in very good vintage condition, consistent with its age and provenance. W. 103 cm × D. 53.5 cm × H. 49 cm.