Wrought Iron Floor Lamp In The Manner Of Jean Royère

A Highly Interesting Floor Lamp in the Manner of Jean Royère

This fine lamp has an adjustable four point system, allowing different lighting effects to be created as the height of the stem is adjusted. This system is used on one of Jean Royère's most famous designs, illustrated in a contemporary photograph in Le Decor d’Aujourd’hui, 1956, N.105 and also in Taschen's book 1000 Lights, 2005, p. 394. A pair of lamps of this model is also in our current collection and can be viewed here

https://www.lovedayantiques.co.uk/product/448/pair-of-jean-royere-adjustable-iron-floor-lamp-1940/

The present lamp has a different base to that on the known Royère model but very much of Royere’s style in design. Executed entirely in wrought iron, lacking the wrapped metal features seen on the above-mentioned model. That having been said, the design of the adjusting section is so similar to the documented design that it makes it highly likely that the present piece is also from the Royère stable, the quality being identical in every respect.

Jean Royère (1902-1981)

Jean Royère is a firm favourite within the design community and extremely collectable with his works making vast sums at auction.

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.

He studied the classics at Cambridge University and initially worked as a banker before beginning his career as a decorator in 1931 working for a furniture manufacturer in Paris.

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 humour and artist's thoughtful restraint that he brought to his furniture designs continue to draw admiration to this day. He worked until retirement in 1980 at which point he moved to Pennsylvania. Examples of his work have since become extremely collectable.

Width: 31 1/2 inches - 80cm
Height: 74 1/2 inches - 189cm
Depth: 16 1/2 inches - 42cm