Pair of Square Drinks Trolleys with Removable Upper Trays by Maison Jansen, French Work, circa 1940

To acquire a pair of Maison Jansen drinks trolleys — matched, in original condition, and of this quality — is one of those collecting events that presents itself rarely and must be seized without hesitation. These two square trolleys, their upper trays removable for serving, embody all the virtues that have made the Jansen name synonymous with the highest standard of French decorative furniture of the 1940s: the fineness of the structural metalwork, the precision of the rolling mechanism, the calculated elegance of the square form that, in its studied departure from the more usual oval, introduces a note of architectural rigour that is thoroughly characteristic of Stéphane Boudin's aesthetic judgement. Placed flanking a sofa, a fireplace, or a dining table, the pair achieves the kind of decorative coherence that only matching pieces of this provenance can produce.

Maison Jansen's drinks trolleys represent a summit of French functional decorative art: objects conceived for the most refined moments of social life — the cocktail hour, the intimate dinner, the measured ceremony of the apéritif — and executed with a quality that ensures they will still be beautiful and serviceable a century hence. The removable upper tray was a practical refinement of considerable ingenuity: it allowed the trolley to serve double duty as a portable tray and a permanent furniture piece, adapting to the fluid choreography of gracious entertaining that the great houses of the era cultivated as a social art.

In excellent condition and presenting the warm, beautiful patina that only genuine period pieces acquire, this pair of trolleys is offered as a complete ensemble ready to take its place in any interior of distinction. Together, they constitute a furnished moment from the golden age of Parisian elegance — and all the more precious for being two.