It could be straight from an episode of
Poirot.
This smoking room,
Les Palmiers (1930-36), designed by Jean Dunand for the Parisian apartment of Mademoiselle Collette Aboucaya on rue de Monceau, is the height of Art Deco decadence. And, though we are now in the age of vaping not smoking, it is now coming up for sale at Phillips in London on 4 May, estimated at £1.5m to £2m.
In 1925, Dunand had been invited to design a smoking room for the French Embassy Pavilion at the Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes Aboucaya. For the first time, he used lacquer panels on the walls and his lacquer designs for the car interiors of the coachbuilder Henri Binder were also shown at the exhibition. Aboucaya, whose father and uncle had recently bought Binder s firm, was impressed by Dunand s work and commissioned him to design this smoking room for her own apartment. As the name suggests, the room s design evokes stylised palm trees, luxuriously render
Phillips to offer Jean Dunand s art deco masterpiece Les Palmiers Smoking Room, 1930-1936
Jean Dunand (1877-1942), Les Palmiers smoking room, from the residence of Mademoiselle Colette Aboucaya, Paris, 1930-1936. Estimate £1,500,000 2,000,000 Image courtesy of Phillips.
LONDON
.- This Spring, Phillips presents a rare opportunity to view the smoking room Les Palmiers, designed by Jean Dunand from 1930-1936 for the Parisian apartment of Mademoiselle Collette Aboucaya on rue de Monceau. Standing as one of the great achievements in 20th Century French Design, Les Palmiers will be offered alongside the original daybed designed by the Japanese artist Katsu Hamanaka, which was acquired by the late designer Kenzo in the late 90s before moving to another collection where it has remained until today. Phillips Design auction in London on 4 May will unite these works for the first time since they first appeared on the market in 1997.