Modernist Dressing Table by Maison Desny, circa 1930
This rare early Modernist dressing table by Maison Desny, with its novel use of clear and opaline glass, nickel-plated and painted metal, showcases the avant-garde design and radical materials that made Maison Desny such an extraordinary pioneer of design.
During the brief but highly significant interwar period between 1927 and 1933, the designers and friends Desnet and René Nauny collaborated under this name, creating radically constructed and distinctive furniture and small-scale functional objects. Known primarily for the latter due to the extreme rarity of their furniture-making, much of Maison Desny’s history remains elusive, making this Modernist dressing table a truly exciting discovery. With its contrasting perpendicular shapes and planes, Maison Desny’s style is immediately recognisable, and the same lighting design seen in this dressing table is repeated in a stamped and documented piece.
Eliminating wood entirely from the design of this dressing table places Maison Desny among a select group of interwar French avant-garde designers, such as Djo-Bourgeois, Jean-Charles Moreaux, and René Herbst, making it a remarkable piece of furniture from this period. Its form consists entirely of horizontal and vertical lines, balanced between the depth of the opaline glass and painted metal and the luminosity of the clear glass, nickel-plated hardware, and mirror, which still bears a plaque from the high-end mirror manufacturers of the period, Miroir Brot. Expertly constructed and far ahead of its time, this rare dressing table with mirror and light by Maison Desny is a unique and striking piece of early Modernism.
Condition:
In remarkable condition. All glass and mirrors are original. Minor surface wear to the black opaline glass, with a very small chip to the back corner and top corner of the drawer, approximately 2–3mm.
Bibliography:
Alastair Duncan and Audrey Friedman, La Maison Desny, The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, Vol. 9, Metalwork Theme Issue (Summer 1988), pp. 86–93.
Art et Industrie, December 1928, p. 63.
Dimensions:
Height: 122cm
Height to vanity top: 72cm
Width: 69cm
Location:
Rancho Santa Fe, California
This rare early Modernist dressing table by Maison Desny, with its novel use of clear and opaline glass, nickel-plated and painted metal, showcases the avant-garde design and radical materials that made Maison Desny such an extraordinary pioneer of design.
During the brief but highly significant interwar period between 1927 and 1933, the designers and friends Desnet and René Nauny collaborated under this name, creating radically constructed and distinctive furniture and small-scale functional objects. Known primarily for the latter due to the extreme rarity of their furniture-making, much of Maison Desny’s history remains elusive, making this Modernist dressing table a truly exciting discovery. With its contrasting perpendicular shapes and planes, Maison Desny’s style is immediately recognisable, and the same lighting design seen in this dressing table is repeated in a stamped and documented piece.
Eliminating wood entirely from the design of this dressing table places Maison Desny among a select group of interwar French avant-garde designers, such as Djo-Bourgeois, Jean-Charles Moreaux, and René Herbst, making it a remarkable piece of furniture from this period. Its form consists entirely of horizontal and vertical lines, balanced between the depth of the opaline glass and painted metal and the luminosity of the clear glass, nickel-plated hardware, and mirror, which still bears a plaque from the high-end mirror manufacturers of the period, Miroir Brot. Expertly constructed and far ahead of its time, this rare dressing table with mirror and light by Maison Desny is a unique and striking piece of early Modernism.
Condition:
In remarkable condition. All glass and mirrors are original. Minor surface wear to the black opaline glass, with a very small chip to the back corner and top corner of the drawer, approximately 2–3mm.
Bibliography:
Alastair Duncan and Audrey Friedman, La Maison Desny, The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, Vol. 9, Metalwork Theme Issue (Summer 1988), pp. 86–93.
Art et Industrie, December 1928, p. 63.
Dimensions:
Height: 122cm
Height to vanity top: 72cm
Width: 69cm
Location:
Rancho Santa Fe, California
This rare early Modernist dressing table by Maison Desny, with its novel use of clear and opaline glass, nickel-plated and painted metal, showcases the avant-garde design and radical materials that made Maison Desny such an extraordinary pioneer of design.
During the brief but highly significant interwar period between 1927 and 1933, the designers and friends Desnet and René Nauny collaborated under this name, creating radically constructed and distinctive furniture and small-scale functional objects. Known primarily for the latter due to the extreme rarity of their furniture-making, much of Maison Desny’s history remains elusive, making this Modernist dressing table a truly exciting discovery. With its contrasting perpendicular shapes and planes, Maison Desny’s style is immediately recognisable, and the same lighting design seen in this dressing table is repeated in a stamped and documented piece.
Eliminating wood entirely from the design of this dressing table places Maison Desny among a select group of interwar French avant-garde designers, such as Djo-Bourgeois, Jean-Charles Moreaux, and René Herbst, making it a remarkable piece of furniture from this period. Its form consists entirely of horizontal and vertical lines, balanced between the depth of the opaline glass and painted metal and the luminosity of the clear glass, nickel-plated hardware, and mirror, which still bears a plaque from the high-end mirror manufacturers of the period, Miroir Brot. Expertly constructed and far ahead of its time, this rare dressing table with mirror and light by Maison Desny is a unique and striking piece of early Modernism.
Condition:
In remarkable condition. All glass and mirrors are original. Minor surface wear to the black opaline glass, with a very small chip to the back corner and top corner of the drawer, approximately 2–3mm.
Bibliography:
Alastair Duncan and Audrey Friedman, La Maison Desny, The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, Vol. 9, Metalwork Theme Issue (Summer 1988), pp. 86–93.
Art et Industrie, December 1928, p. 63.
Dimensions:
Height: 122cm
Height to vanity top: 72cm
Width: 69cm
Location:
Rancho Santa Fe, California
