Maison Millet On Sale

Known throughout France for its Belle Époque furniture and decorative objects, Maison Millet was one of Paris’s most formidable furniture makers during the 19th century.

The company was founded in 1853 by Théodore Millet, a talented cabinetmaker who specialized in crafting artistic bronzes and making 18th-century reproductions of furniture, particularly in the Louis XVI style.

During the mid-1800s, Maison Millet’s designs consisted of elaborate and skillfully embellished furniture that was elegant and luxurious. Pieces such as cabinets, cupboards and vitrines were made from fine wood and gilt bronze. Table lamps featuring Cipollino marble and wall sconces were highly decorative, ornamented with hand-chiseled ribbons, bows and flowers. For Maison Millet’s bronze pieces, it is said the company collaborated with many well-known Parisian sculptors and bronze casters, including Claudius Marioton.

By the late 19th century, Maison Millet’s reputation for exquisite furniture was firmly established. At the Paris Universal Exposition in 1889, the firm won the gold medal, and at the 1900 Universal Exposition, it won the grand prix and three diplômes d’honneur. In 1902, Maison Millet was given the distinguished honor of being one of a few furniture makers authorized by the Château de Versailles to make a replica of Marie-Antoinette’s famed Grand Cabinet à Bijoux (a jewelry case).

Following Maison Millet’s accomplishments and the success it enjoyed towards the end of the 19th century, furniture production slowed in the early 1900s. By 1906, its remaining pieces had been auctioned off, and by 1918, the company had closed. 

Today, Maison Millet’s name continues to resonate among interior designers and avid collectors of 18th- and 19th-century furniture.

On 1stDibs, find a range of antique Maison Millet case pieces and storage cabinets, lighting, tables and more.

Well-crafted antique and vintage table lamps do more than provide light; the right fixture-and-table combination can add a focal point or creative element to any interior.

Proper table lamps have long been used for lighting our most intimate spaces. Perfect for lighting your nightstand or reading nook, table lamps play an integral role in styling an inviting room. In the years before electricity, lamps used oil. Today, a rewired 19th-century vintage lamp can still provide a touch of elegance for a study.

After industrial milestones such as mass production took hold in the Victorian era, various design movements sought to bring craftsmanship and innovation back to this indispensable household item. Lighting designers affiliated with Art Deco, which originated in the glamorous roaring ’20s, sought to celebrate modern life by fusing modern metals with dark woods and dazzling colors in the fixtures of the era. The geometric shapes and gilded details of vintage Art Deco table lamps provide an air of luxury and sophistication that never goes out of style.

After launching in 1934, Anglepoise lamps soon became a favorite among modernist architects and designers, who interpreted the fixture as “a machine for lighting,” just as Le Corbusier had reimagined the house as “a machine for living in.” The popular task light owed to a collaboration between a vehicle-suspension engineer by the name of George Carwardine and a West Midlands springs manufacturer, Herbert Terry & Sons. 

Some mid-century modern table lamps, particularly those created by the likes of Joe Colombo and the legendary lighting artisans at Fontana Arte, bear all the provocative hallmarks associated with Space Age design. Sculptural and versatile, the Louis Poulsen table lamps of that period were revolutionary for their time and still seem innovative today. 

If you are looking for something more contemporary, industrial table lamps are demonstrative of a newly chic style that isn’t afraid to pay homage to the past. They look particularly at home in any rustic loft space amid exposed brick and steel beams.

Before you buy a desk lamp or table lamp for your living room, consider your lighting needs. The Snoopy lamp, designed in 1967, or any other “banker’s lamp” (shorthand for the Emeralite desk lamps patented by H.G. McFaddin and Company), provides light at a downward angle that is perfect for writing, while the Fontana table lamp and the beloved Grasshopper lamp by Greta Magnusson-Grossman each yield a soft and even glow. Some table lamps require lampshades to be bought separately.

Whether it’s a classic antique Tiffany table lamp, a Murano glass table lamp or even a bold avant-garde fixture custom-made by a contemporary design firm, the right table lamp can completely transform a room. Find the right one for you on 1stDibs.