ATTRIBUTED TO JANSEN, MID-20TH CENTURY

Henri Jansen, the early Parisian decorator, left his native Holland in 1880 to establish workshops that produced furnishings for his client to satisfy all their interior design needs. From his display rooms on the rue Royale and his workshops in rue Pergolese, Jansen employed an impressive array of cabinetmakers, upholsterers, bronze foundeurs and gilders. Furniture from his workshops was of such exemplary quality, following 18th century models with almost scholarly diligence, that such illustrious clientele as King Leopold II of Belgium, Queen Elizabeth and later King Edward VII of England, and Alfonso XII and XIII of Spain were soon commissioning elaborate interiors from him. Before his death in 1929, the House of Jansen was operating an extensive network of sale rooms and workshops in Argentina, New York, London, Sao Paulo, Prague, Havanna, Rome, Cairo and Alexandria. Interestingly, while Jansen did sign a good amount of the pieces his workshop produced, it is not unusual for Jansen works to remain unsigned