In 1938, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor commissioned the design firm Maison Jansen to furnish and decorate their four-story apartment in the sixteenth arrondissement of Paris. For this project, the company—under the direction of Stephane Boudin—employed their typical eclectic and opulent style throughout the home. The present side table sat in the banquette room on the first floor, which also included a large green velvet upholstered sofa, silk drapes, an oil portrait of the Duchess, faux-bamboo chairs, and lacquered tables similar to the present example which were styled after Chinese antiques.

Alexandre Serebriakov, illustration of the banquette room at 24 Boulevard Suchet, Paris, 1946.

Though the Duke and Duchess left Paris at the precipice of World War II, they returned in 1945 with the interiors still largely intact. The Duke and Duchess decided to relocate, however, in 1946, but before doing so, they commissioned Russian-born artist Alexandre Serebriakov to illustrate the interiors in watercolor. In one of these works, pictured above, the present lot is depicted in the far back right corner.
- Provenance
  The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Paris
  Mohamed Al-Fayed, Paris, acquired from the above, 1986
  Sotheby's, New York, "Property from the Collection of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor: The Public Collections," February 19, 1998, lot 1157
  R. Louis Bofferding, New York, acquired from the above
  Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2001
- Literature
  James Archer Abbott, Jansen, New York, 2006, illustrated p. 112