Atelier Martine – small table / side table in wood – around 1920-1930

Small side table or guéridon in wood attributed to the Atelier Martine (or Maison Martine), a decorative arts workshop founded in Paris by Paul Poiret in 1911 and active until 1929. Rectangular top with strongly softened corners and edges, cut apron, and four slightly curved legs, finished with small geometric projections. This construction evokes, in a simplified and modernised interpretation, certain small Chinese furniture from the Ming tradition, particularly through the design of the apron and the termination of the legs. The model is also comparable, due to the very distinctive design of its legs, to those of the daybed reproduced in plate 18 of "Intérieurs français" by Jean Badovici, 1924, presented in red lacquer. Wood painted in bright red, in a colour very close to that of the remnants of the original paint. Each leg retains a small circular metal pad at its end. A number “7” is inscribed under the top. Stable structure, restored by a cabinetmaker.