Mother-of-Pearl Ebony Chair

The form of this striking chair is inspired by those produced in the Coromandel Coast in India. Since the 19th century, patrons in North America and Europe relied on a handful of furniture makers to produced pieces that were inspired by Indian, as well as Chinese, Egyptian, Japanese, and Moorish, motifs. Most notably, Lockwood de Forest and his cousin-in-law and business partner Louis Comfort Tiffany imported elaborate pieces from South Asia and incorporated these Indian designs in their own works.