Brass and Wood Valet Stand with Lion Head and Paw Foot Mounts, French Work, circa 1940

This elegant valet stand, made around 1940, combines with great refinement two noble materials: brass and wood. Its decoration draws from the neoclassical ornamental repertoire, with its lion heads and paw feet characteristic of the Empire and Restoration decorative vocabulary, which craftsmen of the 1930s and 1940s revisited brilliantly to create objects combining tradition and modernity.

Lion heads, symbols of strength and nobility, are a recurring decorative motif in French applied arts since the Napoleonic era. Here, cast in brass and finely chiselled, they endow this bedroom accessory with a remarkable sculptural presence. The paw feet, another borrowing from the Empire repertoire, provide stable support whilst contributing to the decorative harmony of the whole.

The valet stand, the quintessential comfort piece of the bourgeois bedroom, is here elevated to the rank of collector's object by the quality of its execution and the preciousness of its ornaments. A rare and sought-after piece, this gentleman's valet testifies to the care taken by French craftsmen of the interwar period in the making of utilitarian objects of great distinction.