166 - Jean ROYERE (1902–1981)

Jean ROYERE (1902–1981) "Oeuf" model ladies' desk with a curved shell and a wooden frame upholstered in blue velvet, with the reverse side covered in an original fabric featuring a floral pattern by Paule Marrot It rests on a spindle-shaped corner base made of oak Original metal "Jean Royère" plaque on the back Model created around 1954 H: 77.5 cm / W: 112 cm / D: 50 cm (signs of wear, stains, damage, and restorations) Note: Our desk is currently the only known example of this model Bibliography: Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Jean Royère Décorateur à Paris, Editions Norma, Paris, 2000; a bedside table of similar construction is reproduced on p. 72 Jean Royère (1902–1981) Jean Royère came from a cultured, middle-class family, which led him during his youth to work alongside his uncle and learn the import-export business. His career as an interior designer began in the 1930s. His early years, marked by his time at a furniture factory in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in Paris, allowed him to grasp the demands of Parisian craftsmanship. This early creative period in the early 1930s marked the beginning of Jean Royère’s success. In addition to his first commission for his uncle Jacques Raverat—for which he designed garden furniture with elongated lines that foreshadowed his personal and unconventional style— he would leave his mark on his era and his contemporaries with projects such as the Carlton Hotel and the pieces he created for the contemporary furniture section of the renowned manufacturer Gouffé. A few years after his breakthrough at the 1937 World’s Fair—for which he was commissioned to create seventeen sets—Jean Royère opened his own studio on Rue d’Argenson in Paris, followed in 1949 by a large gallery on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Public commissions—such as the interior design of the French Consulate in Alexandria, the reception rooms of the new French Legation in Helsinki, and interior design projects for Gaston Dutilleul and the singer Henri Salvador in 1955—further cemented his international reputation. Thus, during the 1950s, Jean Royère decided to expand his business to the Maghreb as well as to South America—with Lima in 1955 and São Paulo in 1957— the Near and Middle East, where he opened an office in Cairo, Egypt, in 1946, followed the next year by an agency in Beirut, Lebanon, and finally, in 1958, branches in Saudi Arabia and Iran. From then on, Royère took on an increasing number of projects for a prestigious and elite clientele abroad, including King Saud of Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal, King Hussein of Jordan, President Chehab of Lebanon, the Shah of Iran and his daughter, and Princess Shahnaz. Free from the influence of functionalism, Jean Royère—with his taste for clean lines where simplicity and elegance go hand in hand—embodies a return to an ornamental repertoire inspired by the animal and plant worlds, where natural materials blend and intertwine with free-form shapes and organic contours. This is evident in the designer’s flagship and iconic pieces featured in this auction, such as the “Oeuf” ladies’ desk, the “Eléphanteau” armchairs, the pair of “Trèfle” armchairs, and this rare set of four chairs—a variation on the “Croisillons” model—all of which reflect the poetic universe that permeates his entire body of work.