The "Pagoda" side table, also known as "Queue d’Oiseau" (bird’s tail) is one of Jean-Michel Frank’s most iconic models. Reinterpreted in many variations, from simple oak to parchment, even to mica (for the famous jazz musician Cole Porter), the rarest material is notably the shagreen variant. There are only two shagreen tables to have been recognized today: Ours, from the collection of Yves Saint-Laurent, and another in Jacques Grange’s collection.

Initially, one table was made for the notorious American philanthropist and French Art Deco collector, Templeton Crocker, and placed in his glitzy San Francisco penthouse. The second table Frank made can be seen in a photograph taken in 1935, from the inauguration of Frank’s boutique on rue Saint Honoré in Paris (Giacometti Foundation Archives). 

In the 1970’s, pioneering Art Deco connoisseur Yves Saint-Laurent began to complement his impressive art collection with some of the most important and beautiful 1920’s and 1930’s furniture pieces. Famous today, designers such as Eileen Gray, Jean Dunand, Gustave Miklos, and Eugene Printz were at the time only known to a few people, among them Andy Warhol, Mr. Chow and Karl Lagerfeld. Yves Saint-Laurent and the Lalanne husband-and-wife team were at the heart of this group of early collectors, where pieces by Jean-Michel Frank were some of the most prized. Opulent yet understated, our shagreen table from Yves Saint-Laurent’s infamous rue Babylon apartment is a perfect example of this aesthetic.

This piece is accompanied by Jean-Michel Frank Committee certificate.