Lacquered Coffee Table with Chinese Decor on Brass Base, Circa 1970

This elegant coffee table embodies the taste for chinoiseries that pervades French decoration of the 1970s. Its magnificent lacquered top, adorned with finely executed Chinese decor — landscapes, pavilions, court or garden scenes — rests on a brass base with clean lines, creating a striking contrast between the exoticism of the decor and the modernity of the metal structure. The taste for chinoiseries, imported from China in the 17th century and then reinterpreted by European workshops, has experienced several revivals: Régence, Louis XV, Second Empire, and finally the 1960s–1970s under the influence of the return to oriental decorative arts. Hand-painted lacquers, sometimes enhanced with gold, testify to a demanding craftsmanship: layering of lacquer, engraving of the decor, application of pigments and gold leaves. The combination of lacquer and brass is emblematic of the decorative taste of the great Parisian houses of the 1970s, which married traditional Asian techniques with modernist Western structures. The brass base, with its geometric rigour, highlights the pictorial richness of the top and gives the whole a presence that is both refined and statuesque. With its generous dimensions of 39.37 in wide, 19.69 in deep and 19.09 in high, this coffee table will naturally find its place at the heart of a refined living room. Exceptional piece sourced by Maison Barrois, it will sublimate both classical and contemporary interiors. Good overall condition.