Brushed Steel and Brass Swan Coffee Table by Maison Jansen

Maison Jansen was, for much of the twentieth century, the most admired and influential decorating firm in the world. From their premises on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris, they furnished palaces, ocean liners, embassies, and the private residences of royalty, heads of state, and the great names of international society. The furniture they produced combined the highest standards of French craftsmanship with an intimate knowledge of historical styles, and it is this combination that distinguishes every piece that bears their name.

This coffee table exemplifies the firm’s mastery of the neoclassical idiom. The brushed steel frame — rectangular in plan, resting on a graceful curved X-form stretcher — is animated at each corner by a cast brass swan neck, the head curving downward with the characteristic grace of the Empire motif. At the base of each leg, a cast brass webbed foot of remarkable fidelity provides the final note of zoomorphic ornament. The glass top, set within the brass-edged frame, is both protective and transparent, allowing the beauty of the understructure to be fully appreciated.

The swan motif in French furniture has its origins in the Empire period, when it was adopted as one of the principal decorative emblems of the Napoleonic style, drawing on its associations with grace, fidelity, and transformation. Maison Jansen returned to this motif with particular frequency in the 1960s and 1970s, deploying it in coffee tables, consoles, and canapés for some of the most distinguished private interiors of the period.

A piece of exceptional provenance and quality, this table would be the centrepiece of any collection of post-war French decorative arts.