Ebonised Wood & Brass Umbrella Stand, Attributed to Jacques Adnet, French, circa 1950

Jacques Adnet (1900–1984) was born in Châtillon-Coligny in the Loiret and trained at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris alongside his twin brother Jean. In 1928, still in his twenties, he was appointed director of the Compagnie des Arts Français—the prestigious decorating studio formerly directed by Louis Süe and André Mare—a position he would hold for over three decades. Under Adnet, the Compagnie became the pre-eminent address for Parisian grand-luxe interiors that were simultaneously rigorous and sensuous: geometric in structure, lavish in material, and always anchored in the finest traditions of French artisanal craft.

Central to Adnet’s vocabulary was the bichromatic programme of ebonised wood and brass—a pairing as carefully considered as any colour combination in painting. Ebonisation, the process of blackening wood to suppress its natural grain and warmth, transforms what would otherwise be a richly organic material into a neutral geometric ground: a matte, uniform black that makes the brass elements read with maximum chromatic clarity against it. This is not decoration but system—a precisely calibrated contrast between the opacity of blackened wood and the luminous warmth of polished brass, between the earth and the sun. This umbrella stand, with its crisp construction and material integrity, embodies that system at the threshold of the home.

French work, circa 1950, attributed to Jacques Adnet, in fine condition commensurate with its age. Dimensions: W. 33.5 cm × D. 25 cm × H. 49.5 cm.