MAHOGANY WOOD DESK, CIRCA 1935

A French Art Deco library or writing table attributed to André Arbus, c.1935–1940. The rectangular top is veneered in a four-quadrant book-matched parquetry of figured walnut, the radiating grain creating a quiet sunburst that animates an otherwise austere plane. The apron is plain and unmoulded, allowing the timber to read as the principal ornament.

The piece rests on four solid walnut legs of subtly tapered, sabre profile — a signature of Arbus's neoclassical vocabulary, where Louis-Philippe and Directoire memory is pared back to a single confident curve. Front and rear pairs of legs are tied by an arched stretcher in solid walnut, the curve mirrored on each side and lifted off the floor to read as a drawn bow rather than a structural brace. The result is a base that appears to lean inward at rest — planted but lyrical.

Reference: compare Arbus's mahogany and walnut tables published in Yves Badetz, André Arbus: Architecte-décorateur des années 40 (Éditions de l'Amateur, 1996), and related lots passed at Christie's Paris and Artcurial Mobilier XXe sales.

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