Maitland Smith Gilt Bronze Monkey Paper Towel Holder

PRESENTING A GLORIOUSLY QUIRKEY AND WHIMSICAL Maitland Smith Gilt Bronze Monkey Paper Towel Holder.

Made by the well known maker, Maitland Smith, circa 1980.

This large piece is heavy, functional, decorative and downright AMUSING !

The pair of ‘Jester’ monkeys are made of cast bronze which has been cold painted and the faces, arms/hands, shins and bobbles all gilted.

Both monkeys are holding a bronze bar that holds a large paper towel. The central pole is spring loaded to add/remove a roll of paper towel.

The wooden plinth is covered in a mottled brown leather with giltwork edging on top and painted latticework on the sides.

Overall in very good condition for it’s age and use. Some minor scuffs to leather base.

The eclectic furnishings of Maitland-Smith celebrate artisan skills in an age of machines. Hand-carved woodwork, inlaid marquetry, painted detailing, gilding and lost wax casting lend the company’s decorative accents an artistic flair. Focused on pieces that add a dynamic flourish to an interior by incorporating tactile materials like leather, seashell inlays and crushed eggshell, the manufacturer draws inspiration across centuries, from the curvy forms of the Louis XV period to the geometric angles of mid-century modernism.

Paul Maitland-Smith established the company in Hong Kong in 1979, after getting his start in London in the 1950s as an antique dealer who also sold reproduction furniture, something that would become a Maitland-Smith specialty. The manufacturer’s early reproductions of 17th- and 18th-century furniture included Chippendale dining chairs, and soon afterward, Maitland-Smith expanded into a range of decorative designs that often exuded a whimsical spirit, whether a coffee table shaped like a stack of books or a pair of decorative obelisks. Maitland-Smith’s signature sculptural table lamps in particular show off this playful sensibility, with one balancing a pen-shell shade on a monkey’s tail and another taking on the form of a miniature hot-air balloon.

Since its founding, Maitland-Smith’s sourcing has been based in Asia, and although Paul Maitland-Smith later sold the company that still bears his name and is now headquartered in North Carolina, the brand’s furnishings are still largely made in Cebu, Philippines.

Today, Maitland-Smith continues to innovate on its finely crafted offerings by collaborating with contemporary designers and studios such as Tony Duquette Studios (founded by set and costume designer Tony Duquette in 1941), Celerie Kemble and painter and textile designer Susan Hable Smith.