JEAN DUNAND | PAIR OF SIDE TABLES

Kelly Gallery, New York, 2015

Félix Marcilhac, Jean Dunand: His Life and Works, London, 1991, p. 251, no. 467

Jean Dunand, Jean Goulden, exh. cat., Kelly Gallery, New York, 2013, p. 10 (for the present lot illustrated)

A stunning example of Jean Dunand’s use of red lacquer, this pair of side tables provides a concrete example of the Asian and Orientalist influences that permeate the work of the artist. Not only does Dunand owe the technique of lacquer to Japanese artist Seizo Sugawara, who trained him for several years, but the carved details, delicately bent legs, and use of a bright red lacquer pay direct tribute to masterful examples of Qing dynasty furniture. It should be noted that the rich, bright red seen here was particularly difficult to produce in the early 1920s, as it was the result of a complex combination of high-quality churned lacquer and plant-based dyes (vermilion and green), and was consequently used more frequently on smaller pieces of dinanderie.