Key facts

Product:
Vanity
Manufacturer:
Bonhams
Architonic ID:
4105898
Launched:
1930
Country:
United Kingdom

Product description

Mirrored fruitwood and parchment vanity
The rectangular mirror plate flanked by banks of four drawers topped with parchment, joined by a shaped glass shelf, impressed CHANAUX & Co J.M. FRANK.
Height 6 ft 9in (2.05m); width 4 ft 5in (1.34m); depth 17 3⁄4in (45cm)


Jean-Michel Frank was an influential designer catering to the haute monde of both Paris and the United States. Frank was born to a wealthy French family and enjoyed the trappings of wealth, luxury and world travel before he entered the realm of interior design in 1925. He became reknowned for his use of clean bold lines, often utilizing sumptuous exotic materials such as sharkskin, parchment, rare woods and paille: the straw marquetry veneer with which he has become closely associated. In creating interiors for such such luminaries as the Vicomte de Noailles, Elsa Shaparelli, Guerlain, Templeton Crocker and Nelson Rockefeller, Frank insured that his designs would be seen and commented on by the right strata of society. His close association with Adolphe Chanaux, who produced high quality furniture, led to a partnership which insured the highest standards of manufacture. Frank later created remarkable designs for sculptors Alberto and Diego Giacometti, reflecting his tenet of clean elegant line as well as introducing a slight sense of whimsy to the molded plaster designs. Frank was an uncle of Anne Frank’s, and had emigrated to New York as WWII approached his native country. Frank died tragically as a result of suicide in 1941.