Neoclassical Style Oval Brass Drinks Trolley with Removable Top Tray by Maison Jansen, Circa 1940

An oval drinks trolley of exceptional elegance, crafted entirely in polished brass, presenting a graceful oval form on four slender legs mounted on discreet brass casters, its upper tray removable for use as a serving piece. The oval silhouette — softer and more refined than the rectangular form, and particularly favoured in the Louis XVI and Directoire vocabularies — lends this trolley a distinctive lightness and feminine grace. The frame, enriched with classical turned elements and fine mouldings, exemplifies the measured decorative sensibility of the Jansen ateliers.

A work of Maison Jansen, that incomparable Parisian decorating house whose mastery of classical furniture forms elevated the drinks trolley — in principle a purely functional piece — to an object of genuine artistic prestige. Under the direction of Stéphane Boudin, Jansen produced a celebrated series of brass trolleys and guéridons that became defining objects of the grand mid-century French interior, appearing in commissions for royalty, ambassadors, and the international haute bourgeoisie. The removable tray is a characteristically Jansen refinement, combining practical versatility with formal elegance.

This oval drinks trolley embodies the art of gracious entertaining as practised in the great Parisian interiors of the postwar decades. Its oval form and removable tray make it equally suited to a formal salon, a library, or a study, bringing a note of golden Parisian luxury wherever it is placed. A coveted piece for the collector of Maison Jansen furniture, and an essential accent for any interior aspiring to the highest standards of French taste and savoir-vivre.