Neoclassical Brass Coffee Table with Chinoiserie Lacquered Top, Attributed to Maison Jansen, France, circa 1940

This exceptional coffee table represents one of the most distinctive expressions of Maison Jansen’s decorative vocabulary: the marriage of the neoclassical European tradition with the allure of Chinese lacquerwork. The polished brass framework, with its precisely articulated legs, classical mounts, and elegant proportions, provides the setting for a lacquered wood top decorated with chinoiserie scenes — figures in landscapes, pavilions, flowering branches, and other motifs drawn from the European imagination of China. The lacquer is executed with the delicacy and refinement characteristic of the finest European lacquer workshops that supplied the great Parisian decorators during the interwar period.

Maison Jansen was one of the foremost practitioners of the chinoiserie tradition in twentieth-century French interior decoration. Under Stéphane Boudin, the house produced furniture, wall panels, and objects combining neoclassical metalwork with Chinese or Japanese lacquer of the highest quality, creating a dialogue between East and West that was among the most sought-after features of the grandest European salons of the 1930s and 1940s. The combination of a neoclassical brass frame with a chinoiserie lacquered top, as in this coffee table, is characteristic of Jansen’s most inventive production and places this piece firmly within the main current of the house’s aesthetic achievement.

Presented in very good vintage condition, consistent with its age and provenance. W. 110 cm × D. 55 cm × H. 46 cm.