1930s Maison Bagues Neoclassical Regency Italian Bronze Table

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Stunning Art Deco Neoclassical brass side table with Antiqued Glass in Gilt Bronze in the manner of Maison Jansen, Maison … Read more Stunning Art Deco Neoclassical brass side table with Antiqued Glass in Gilt Bronze in the manner of Maison Jansen, Maison Bagues, Maison Charles

Detailed with Fluted-Reeded tapered legs with Rosette detailing on mitered corners and inset églomisé glass top.
Jean-Henri Jansen (1854-1928), the founder of Maison Jansen, was a Dutch entrepreneur and decorator. He had excellent taste, was a true art expert, knew a lot about antiques and, importantly, understood how to establish contacts with representatives of the highest social circles. Thanks to all of this, he established the world-famous interior decoration office, serving wealthy and noble clients in Europe, Latin America, North America and the Middle East.

It was mainly these sort of customers Jansen counted on when opening the interior design studio Maison Jansen at number 9 on the Parisian rue de l'Annonciation in 1880.

Almost immediately, Jansen opened an antique salon in a neighbouring house, where one could buy furniture from the 18th century, restored and retightened with modern fabrics. It was not just another shop - Maison Jansen made luxurious interiors in the style of all Louis’s, from the Empire style to Directoire, and a select clientele gathered there to share latest news or discuss the merits of the restored items.

During the first ten years of its existence, the interior house achieved worldwide fame: the royal families of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain were among its clients. Since 1905, Jansen had opened branch offices all over the world: in London, Cairo, Prague, Rome, New York, Buenos Aires, Havana and Rio de Janeiro.

The five-story studio counted about 700 employees of all kinds: cabinetmakers, mirror makers, glaziers, carvers, upholsterers, metalworkers and many more, and all of them were obliged to take an additional course in art history. In addition to a whole staff of its own artisans, from the very beginning of its existence Maison Jansen cooperated with the best furniture designers, such as Jean-Michel Frank and Terence Robsjohn-Gibbings, who had been working for the company in the 1930s.

Exotic woods were shipped from Latin America to Paris, and then brought to the homes of the local wealthy and aristocrats in the form of carved boiserie, exquisite dressers, armchairs and tables. Historical styling was Maison Jansen's calling card, but the firm's designers were also keen on the spirit of the times. Jansen himself fancied adding exoticism to his interior work – he often experimented with the pieces he brought from the trips to Turkey and Japan.

After Jansen's death in 1928, the business was taken over by two of his most talented students - decorators Gaston Schwartz and Stéphane Boudin. Schwartz was a fan of the new style - chic and luxurious, but at the same time theatrical, glamorous. Stéphane Boudin, on the contrary, was a fan of the traditions of French classics. He knew them thoroughly and made the craftsmen who worked in the Maison Jansen atelier to study them in detail.

While traveling around Europe, he made sketches of ornaments, details of furniture and decor, architectural elements, in order to use them later in his works. Already in the 1930s, Boudin was proclaimed the greatest decorator in the world. Among the admirers of his talent was, for example, the millionaire and member of the British Parliament, Sir Henry Channon. Boudin worked also for Coco Chanel, Elsie de Wolfe, Rockefellers. Later, he was introduced to the Kennedy couple - working on the interiors of the White House in 1961-1963 was his last, most famous and absolutely unsurpassed in its beauty project. After Boudin's retirement, Maison Jansen was taken over by Pierre Delbée (1900-1974), a talented decorator and restorer who joined the firm in the early 1930s. In 1989, the atelier at 23, rue de l'Annonciation closed its doors forever, immediately becoming a legend.

Today's collectors hunt for Maison Jansen rarities. The record was set in 2003 when a set of gilded wall panels and doors from the Louis XVI era, complete with decorative elements and paintings by Pierre Delbée, were sold at Christie's for £ 408,450. See less