Coffee Table by James Mont
View Similar Items
Coffee Table by James Mont
About the Item
- Creator:James Mont (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 16 in (40.64 cm)Width: 65 in (165.1 cm)Depth: 18 in (45.72 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:Seller: 0069-131stDibs: 0806197800289
James Mont
James Mont’s life as an unmistakably talented furniture designer and interior decorator could fill the pages of a best-selling novel or be reimagined as a Hollywood feature film. From the 1930s through the 1960s, Tinseltown’s glitterati and Manhattan’s Mafia underworld coveted his sofas, coffee tables and table lamps.
Mont was born Demetrios Pecintoglu in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1904 to a family of artists. He reportedly studied architecture and art in Spain and France, and during the 1920s, Mont immigrated with his family to the United States.
Mont and his family settled in New York, where he found work in a Brooklyn electrical supply shop. There he sold hardware and designed his own lighting fixtures. The latter caught the eye of a gangster named Frankie Yale, who commissioned him to refurnish his house. Mont’s opulent designs drew on Art Deco, Hollywood Regency and were occasionally marked by chinoiserie, then a very popular trend in decorating. He created the kind of low-profile side tables and sofas that are frequently associated with mid-century modernism, and he is credited today with helping popularize the integration of Asian influences in modern American design.
Mont soon attracted New York City’s most infamous crime bosses, including Charles “Lucky” Luciano and Frank Costello. For a range of mobsters, he created fashionable, functional and sophisticated pieces such as collapsible home bars that would fold down and out of view — a particularly convenient feature during Prohibition — and tables and desks with secret drawers, which were also handy to Mont’s shady clientele.
“You bought a bar from him, and he would also deliver booze in a baby carriage,” antiques dealer and furniture retailer Todd Merrill told New York about Mont in 2008.
Mont designed a room for the World’s Fair in 1939 and later befriended Hollywood celebrities such as Bob Hope, who was best man at his wedding, Irving Berlin and Lana Turner. During the 1940s and ‘50s, Mont continued designing furniture, mastering finishing techniques such as lacquering and incorporating a distinctive “leafing” print effect with silver and gold into his pieces.
Mont’s designs enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s, and his pieces continue to be sought after by collectors.
On 1stDibs, discover a range of vintage James Mont sideboards, tables and storage cabinets.
- James Mont Style Coffee Table by WeimanBy James MontLocated in New York, NYStunning 1950's wood lacquered base with Carrara Italian marble top coffee table in the style of James Mont made by Weiman, the base have been lacquered in antique gold finish, there...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsCarrara Marble
$2,470 Sale Price35% Off - Signed James Mont Coffee Table Ca. 1940sBy James MontLocated in Peabody, MACoffee table signed "James Mont Designs". Mahogany top with contrasting lacquered base with fretwork legs in an Asian inspired style.Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- James Mont Gold Leaf Coffee Table, SignedBy James MontLocated in New York, NYJames Mont hand gilded circular coffee table with a smoked eglomise mirror top. The perfect finishing statement for any traditional, glam or modern room. Mint restored.Category
20th Century American Hollywood Regency Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsGold Leaf
$8,400 Sale Price5% Off - Very Rare James Mont Burnished Leaf Coffee TableBy James MontLocated in New York, NYExtremely rare James Mont burnished silver leaf coffee table. The table has bold moldings around the top and is in Good original vintage condition.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWood
- Ebonized Coffee Table with Mottled Antique Glass by James MontBy James MontLocated in New York, NYEbonized coffee table with mottled antique glass and retractable top by James Mont, American, 1940s. Table is 68 inches wide when top is fully opened.Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
- Art Deco Coffee Table by James Mont in Original Estate ConditionBy James MontLocated in New York, NYClassic Art Deco, Hollywood Regency style low slung coffee, cocktail table by enigmatic designer, James Mont. The table exhibits Art Deco, Asia Modern and traditional Chinese design ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Art Deco Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWood