Louis XVI Style Brass Fireplace Screen with Mesh and Neoclassical Appliqués, Maison Jansen Style, circa 1940

The Louis XVI fireplace screen is among the most refined expressions of the neoclassical interior: a porous, luminous plane that mediates between the spectator and the flames while organizing the hearthside as a formal composition. This example, in the manner of Maison Jansen, achieves exactly this balance. Its brass frame — upright corner posts crowned with acorn finials, a subtly arched upper rail — carries a fine diamond-pattern mesh that admits both light and warmth while providing the necessary safety barrier.

At the centre of the mesh, a cast brass appliqué assembles the key iconographic elements of the Louis XVI decorative vocabulary: a bow and quiver, attributes of Eros and of the hunt; laurel wreaths, the classical symbols of victory and distinction; knots and ribbons, the characteristic ornaments of the guirlande style that defines French taste in the decade leading to the Revolution. The ensemble is composed with the restraint and precision that distinguishes the best neoclassical work from mere pastiche.

Maison Jansen — the legendary Parisian decorating house founded in 1880 and active throughout the twentieth century — was perhaps the supreme arbiter of this Louis XVI revival. Its fireplace screens, andirons, and companion sets set the standard for aristocratic restraint in brass, supplying clients from the Élysée Palace to the great private collectors of Europe and America. Pieces produced in its manner and period carry the authority of that genealogy, whether or not they bear a mark.

A handsome and finely detailed example, measuring 67.5 cm wide by 64 cm high — a generous scale appropriate to a large or principal fireplace. In excellent condition, the mesh intact, the brass frame with a warm golden patina.