French Art Déco Oval Tray in Sycamore, Ebonised Wood and Chrome — Circa 1930

This large oval serving tray is a textbook exercise in the Art Déco art of contrasting materials. The surface — generous, at sixty centimetres in length and thirty-six in width — is veneered in sycamore, a wood prized by French ébénistes of the inter-war period for its pale, creamy tone and faintly figured grain, which photographs beautifully and ages gracefully to a warm honey. The rim of the oval is faced with a flat band of ebonised wood, its jet-black matte finish providing one of the period's most beloved material contrasts: pale against dark, natural against transformed, the warmth of wood against the severity of lacquer.

The two handles, set at the narrow ends of the oval, are wrought in chrome-plated metal and formed as fluted cylinders — a form that is both practical and highly decorative. The ribbing provides grip and breaks the reflective surface of the chrome into a sequence of brilliant highlights, making the handles gleam as the tray is carried across a room. Chrome was the metal of choice for the French designer of the 1920s and 1930s: it did not tarnish, it was inexpensive compared to silver, and it conveyed precisely the cool, industrial modernity that the age demanded.

Large oval trays of this quality were essential to the culture of French entertainment between the wars. The great Parisian maisons de décoration — Süe et Mare, Dominique, the workshops that supplied the Bon Marché and Printemps — all produced serving pieces in this vocabulary: sycamore or amboyna combined with ebonised trim and chrome or ivory fittings. A tray such as this would have carried cocktail glasses, tea service, or digestifs from kitchen to salon, its materials harmonising perfectly with the lacquered furniture and geometric textiles of a well-appointed inter-war interior.

The sycamore surface retains its warm tone with honest wear consistent with careful domestic use over nine decades. The ebonised border is intact and even; the chrome handles display their original brightness with only the finest surface oxidation. A distinguished and sizeable decorative object, equally suited to contemporary entertaining and to display on a console, coffee table, or ottoman.