Pair of Brass Side Tables with Églomisé Mirror Tops, Maison Jansen, France, circa 1940

This refined pair of neoclassical side tables combines a polished brass frame with tops inset with églomisé mirrored glass, the characteristic antique finish of which imparts a warm, mottled lustre to each surface. The rectangular form, carried on slender tapering legs and framed in gleaming brass, is representative of the Louis XVI vocabulary as filtered through the modernist sensibility of the Parisian decorating trade of the 1930s.

Églomisé glass — glass backed with silver leaf and deliberately aged to produce an oxidized, smoked appearance — was a hallmark of the most sophisticated French interior decorating of the inter-war period. Its use here, combined with precision-worked brass, points firmly to the workshops of Maison Jansen, the pre-eminent Parisian decorating house founded in 1880 on the Rue Royale. Celebrated for furnishing the residences of royalty and heads of state across three continents, Jansen brought to its metalwork an exacting standard of craftsmanship that elevated functional furniture to the level of fine decorative art.

The pair is presented in excellent original condition, the brass retaining its warm golden patina and the églomisé glass preserving the atmospheric character that comes from nearly a century of graceful ageing. These tables would serve with distinction as side tables, lamp stands, or drinks tables in a drawing room, library, or bedroom setting. Their refined proportions and distinguished provenance make them an exceptional acquisition for the collector of French inter-war decorative arts.