Jacques Adnet leather-clad sideboard cabinet c.1955, $35,000 (£27,500) at Los Angeles Modern Auctions.
A trio of pieces in their signature leather-clad style brought five-figure sums at the February 28 sale.
While Adnet began his career in the heyday of Art Deco Paris, it is increasingly his post-war work - a modern take on the traditional French country house interior - that the market admires most.
Particularly coveted are the range of elegant furniture designs made with tubular metal frames clad in saddle-stitched leather between the late 1940s and late 1950s. Aimed at the very highest-end clients (Adnet’s high-profile interiors projects in this period include the renovation of French President Vincent Auriol’s private apartments at the Palais de l’Elysée) they were made in association with the luxury leather goods maker Hermès.
Dated to c.1955 was a 7ft 4in (2.24m) wide sideboard cabinet of three drawers and two doors in black leather over a steel and oak frame. Mounted in lacquered brass (a gallery, handles and fittings to the ‘bamboo’ pillars), it was described as ‘in good vintage condition’ with the leather refinished.
Estimated at $10,000-15,000, it took $35,000 as 86 bidders ‘watched’ on LiveAuctioneers.
It was unsigned but a similar six-shelf library book stand and ladder attributed to Adnet and dated c.1960 hammered for $28,000 against the same guide.
Eisenhower’s desk
President desk by Jacques Quinet, $30,000 (£23,700) at Los Angeles Modern Auctions.
Working at the same time for a similar clientele, Quinet was another proponent of functional design that married the ‘new’ of fabricated tubular steel and the warmth of organic materials such as tropical hardwood, leather, rattan and lacquer. He also used leatherette, the recently available artificial fabric that was both cheaper and required less maintenance.
Quinet’s series of desks that were installed in the Mobilier National and the residence of General Eisenhower at Marne-la-Coquette are much coveted by decorators and collectors.
Here, a c.1950 President desk in rouge leather, brass and oak veneer offered in ‘very good vintage condition’ hammered for $30,000 (£23,700) against an estimate of $10,000-15,000.
