Jean Royère - Design London Tuesday, October 31, 2023 | Phillips
  •  The present console in the original home it was acquired for, Beirut.
    Photo: Private family archive
    • Provenance

      Galerie L'Atelier, Beirut
      Mr Ali Bazzi, Beirut, acquired from the above, circa 1955
      Thence by descent to the present owner

    • Literature

      Galerie Jacques Lacoste and Galerie Patrick Seguin, Jean Royère, Volume 1, Paris, 2012, pp. 44, 143, 144 for a smaller version of the model
      Galerie Jacques Lacoste and Galerie Patrick Seguin, Jean Royère, Volume 2, Paris, 2012, pp. 64, 206-209 for a smaller version of the model

    • Catalogue Essay

      In the late 1940s, Jean Royère opened an office with the Lebanese architect Nadim Majdalani on avenue des Français in Beirut after the two had met in Paris. Their collaboration, which continued through the 1960s, comprised many residential and commercial projects throughout Lebanon, which at that time was experiencing a great deal of growth. Royère established a thriving international practice in Lebanon and his commissions were featured in French publications during the period. The present collection of Jean Royère lots (from lot 9 to lot 13) was acquired at the Galerie L'Atelier opened in 1955 by Majdalani to permanently showcase Royère's works. Mr Ali Bazzi, a former Lebanese diplomat whose illustrious career includes posts as the Lebanese ambassador to Kuwait and Jordan, moved into a new house shortly after his wedding between 1954 and 1956, for which he acquired these five striking pieces. The designs include some of Royère’s quintessential motifs such as the ‘Tour Eiffel’ lattice on the console and reveal the decorator’s predilection for sinuous curves as seen in the clover-shaped tabletop of the coffee table. The overall perforations and balls on the feet of the chairs and armchairs, as well as the rings at the feet of both tables, are also another recurrent feature in Royère designs making this group a wonderfully emblematic selection of Royère’s creative output.

    • Artist Biography

      Jean Royère

      French • 1902 - 1981

      Jean Royère took on the mantle of the great artistes décorateurs of 1940s France and ran with it into the second half of the twentieth century. Often perceived as outside of the modernist trajectory ascribed to twentieth-century design, Royère was nonetheless informed by and enormously influential to his peers. Having opened a store in Paris in 1943 before the war had ended, he was one of the first to promote a new way of life through interior decoration, and his lively approach found an international audience early on in his career.

      In addition to commissions in Europe and South America, Royère had a strong business in the Middle East where he famously designed homes for the Shah of Iran, King Farouk of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan. The surrealist humor and artist's thoughtful restraint that he brought to his furniture designs continue to draw admiration to this day.

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PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED LEBANESE FAMILY

9

Large 'Tour Eiffel' console

designed circa 1947, produced circa 1955
Marble, painted iron, brass.
92.1 x 129.9 x 42.6 cm (36 1/4 x 51 1/8 x 16 3/4 in.)

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£70,000 - 100,000 ‡♠

Contact Specialist

Antonia King
Head of Sale, Design
+44 20 7901 7944
Antonia.King@phillips.com

 

Design

London Auction 31 October 2023