Rectangular Brass & Black Leather Coffee Table in the Style of Jacques Adnet, circa 1970

Few mid-century French designers have proved as enduringly influential as Jacques Adnet, and few objects are as immediately recognisable as the coffee table type he made his signature. This elegant rectangular example — produced in France around 1970 in direct homage to the master’s vocabulary — displays every hallmark of the Adnet idiom: tubular iron legs wrapped in black leather with neat ladder-stitching, diagonal brass rod stretchers crossing in a refined X formation beneath the glass, and polished brass ball feet with ring collars at the junctions of leg and rail.

The contrast between the matte warmth of the black leather and the polished brilliance of the brass is the animating tension of the design: it reads as simultaneously rigorous and refined, masculine and elegant. The stretchers, though structural, are above all ornamental — they add visual dynamism to the table’s silhouette and, viewed from above, transform the undertable space into a geometric composition in its own right.

A clear glass top of generous proportions — 115 × 65 cm — floats above the frame, virtually disappearing when viewed head-on and allowing the metalwork to remain the true subject of the piece. At just 37 cm in height, the table sits in perfect relation to a low sofa or daybed, ideally placed between seating to anchor a sitting room with understated sophistication.

The condition is excellent throughout: the leather clean and supple, the brass bright, and the glass intact. This table represents an ideal introduction to the Adnet aesthetic for a first-time buyer, or a refined addition to a curated collection of mid-twentieth-century French decorative arts.