A Majestic and Highly Important Early 20th Century Louis XV Style Gilt Bronze Mounted Marquetry Four Leg Grand Steinway Piano By Maison Jansen
Item # CC1284
A Majestic and Highly Important Early 20th Century Louis XV Style Gilt Bronze Mounted Marquetry Grand Steinway Piano
By Maison Jansen
The wonderful piano case inlaid with stained Fruitwood, Mahogany, Satine and Sycamore marquetry, the inlaid top centered by a trophy of "music and sciences", the fold over section with three panels of instruments, trophies and floral bouquets. The sides and back inlaid with flowers, pearls, reeds and coral mounted by gilt bronze cornucopia, musical instruments and draped with lion pelts on tapering legs ending in scrolled sabots. The lyre foot pedal centered with a large bronze mask of Apollo.
Signed Jansen Paris to the edge of the case, Steinway & Sons serial number 162322, circa 1913. Based on a model by Joseph Zwiener and inspired by the Bureau Du Roi by Jean-Henri Riesener and Jean-Francois Oeben, which was commissioned by Louis XV for the Palace of Versailles.
Two pianos of this exact design and magnitude were produced by Jansen. Following within the reputation and exceptional quality of Zwieners oeuvre, the first piano was with an Erard movement. It was exhibited at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle and now on view at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall in Leeds. This piano was assembled with a Steinway movement and completed to nearly identical specifications as the first. The mounts are almost certainly attributed to the famous bronze designer, Leon Message, whom worked with Zwiener and François Linke on some of their most important pieces of the late 19th Century.
Maison Jansen (House of Jansen) was a Paris-based interior decoration office founded in 1880 by Dutch-born Jean-Henri Jansen. Jansen is considered the first truly global design firm, serving clients in Europe, Latin America, North America and the Middle East. This House is located at 23, rue de l'Annonciation, Paris.
Zwiener Jansen Successeur was part of the celebrated firm of Maison Jansen. Founded in Paris in 1880 by Jean-Henri Jansen, the firm became the first truly global interior design house and continued trading until 1989. Around 1900 Jansen bought some of the master models of the celebrated furniture maker Joseph-Emmanuel Zwiener and continued his production as Zwiener Jansen Successeur.
Details:
Height – 39 inches / 99cm
Width – 64 inches / 163cm
Depth – 89 inches / 226cm
Maker – Maison Jansen
