maison jansen curule/dagobert/savonarola chairs with a black vinyl upholstery. these chairs are absolutely gorgeous, and were rescued from a stately chicago mansion that had fallen into disrepair. they do not have any significant markings identifying the maker beyond an 'RI' embossed into the underside of each seat. they are clearly in maison jansen style however, and the original owner was a true collector, with a number of other documented/marked maison jansen pieces as well as other high end examples of mid century design. more than any other design firm active between the 19th and 20th centuries, paris-based maison jansen—or simply jansen—was the creator of the period’s most dazzling backdrops. founded in 1880, at the height of beaux-arts fashion, jansen began to garner attention at first by word of mouth among the upper class in france’s third republic. by the turn of the 20th century, jansen’s reputation was international, and the firm counted the monarchs of england, belgium, holland, and spain among its clientele. from 1905 through the 1980s, jansen dispatched its luxury services through a cluster of energetic satellite offices spanning north and south america, europe, and africa. and while the company finally closed the doors of its 9 rue royale headquarters in 1989, jansen’s evolving, iconic style— a mix of 18th-century bourbon finery, hollywood theatrics, and english countryhouse refinement—remains today the subject of much emulation and desire.