Neoclassical Brass Drinks Trolley with Cherub Mounts, in the Style of Maison Jansen, France, circa 1940

A drinks trolley of neoclassical inspiration in polished brass, its rectangular two-tier body supported on four legs joined by a lower shelf, all profusely decorated with cast cherub mounts that lend it an air of exuberant baroque fancy within a rigorously classical framework. The cherubs, cast with considerable care and detail, animate the legs and the principal surfaces, their soft modelling contrasting elegantly with the cool reflectivity of the surrounding brass. The quality of casting and the sophistication of composition evoke the grand decorative manner popularised by Maison Jansen for an international clientele during the inter-war years.

The drinks trolley was one of the defining domestic objects of the mid-twentieth century, occupying a position of both practical and social prestige in the fashionable interior. This example, executed in the opulent Jansen manner with a full complement of figurative ornament, belongs to a tradition of French luxury furnishings that fused the vocabulary of the eighteenth century — cherubs, classical mouldings, refined brasswork — with the service requirements of twentieth-century entertaining. The use of cast brass throughout, rather than gilt wood or metal plating, indicates a piece of substantial manufacture intended to endure.

In good condition consistent with age, with the patina of the brass deepened to a warm golden tone over eight decades. The trolley retains excellent structural stability. A piece of considerable decorative character, suited to a period salon, a bar room, or any interior seeking an object that is at once functional and emphatically ornamental.