SUPPLIED BY JANSEN, EUROPEAN, MID-20TH CENTURY

The tapissier-decorateur Jean-Henri Jansen left his native Holland in 1880 for Paris to establish workshops that produced furnishings to satisfy all his clients interior design needs. From his display rooms on the rue Royale and his workshops in the rue Pergolèse, Jansen employed an impressive array of cabinetmakers, upholsterers, bronziers and gilders. Furniture from his workshops was of such exemplary quality, following 18th Century models with almost scholarly diligence, that such illustrious clients as King Leopold II of Belgium, King Edward VII of England, and Alfonso XII and XIII of Spain were soon commissioning elaborate interiors from him. Such was the success of his company that Jansen opened an extensive network of sale rooms and workshops in Argentina, New York, London, Sâo Paulo, Prague, Havana, Rome, Cairo and Alexandria. Interestingly, while Jansen signed a number of the pieces his workshop produced, such as this set of chairs, it is not unusual for Jansen works to remain unsigned. Other celebrated designers who worked at Jansen include Stéphane Boudin and Henri Samuel.