Neoclassical Style Brass Fireplace Companion Set with Pineapple Finials, in the Manner of Maison Jansen. France. Circa 1970.

This tall and elegant polished brass fireplace companion set, executed in the manner of the celebrated Parisian house Maison Jansen, is distinguished by its sculptural pineapple finials — one of the most iconic motifs in the Jansen repertoire. Each of the five tool handles, and the central stand itself, is surmounted by a cast brass pineapple of considerable detail: the characteristic diamond-pattern skin with its raised nodular scales, and the upright leafy crown, are rendered with precision and vitality. The pineapple, long a symbol of luxury and hospitality in the decorative arts, was a signature device of Maison Jansen, appearing consistently in their fireplace accessory production from the 1930s through the 1970s.

The stand is of slender and refined proportions, with a conical collar that gathers the tool shafts and from which they hang with characteristic elegance. The five tools — a poker, a flat-blade shovel, a brush and a pair of tongs — are fashioned in polished brass throughout, their long and slender profiles emphasising the verticality and refinement of the composition.

Dating to circa 1970, this set reflects the continued prestige of the neoclassical vocabulary in French interior furnishing of that period. Maison Jansen, founded in Paris in 1880, had by this time established the pineapple companion set as a widely emulated model, its designs reproduced by numerous quality French ateliers seeking to offer their clientele pieces in the Jansen manner. The present set represents this production at a quality level fully consistent with the finest examples of the genre.