Modernist Dressing Table by Maison Desny, circa 1930

This supremely rare early Modernist dressing table by Maison Desny, with its novel use of clear and opaline glass, and nickel-plated and painted metal, shows the avant-garde design and radical materials which made Maison Desny such an extraordinary pioneer of design.

In a brief but tremendously important interwar period between 1927 and 1933, the designers and friends Desnet and René Nauny collaborated under this name on radically constructed and distinctive furniture and small-scale functional objects. Known primarily for the latter due to the extreme rarity of examples of their furniture-making, much of Maison Desny’s history remains elusive also, making this Modernist dressing table a truly exciting piece to see. With its contrasting perpendicular shapes and planes, Maison Desny’s style is immediately recognisable, and the exact same lighting design seen in this dressing table is repeated in a piece which is stamped and documented.

Eliminating wood entirely from the design for this dressing table puts Maison Desny in the company of a very select few 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, still bearing a plaque for 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 beautiful piece of early Modernism.

Dimensions:
Height: 122cm
Height to vanity top: 72cm
Width: 69cm

Codition:
In remarkable condition, all glass and mirrors are original small surface wear to black opaline glass, very small chip to back corner and top corner of draw approx 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, pg. 63.