The Curator

The Indo-Saracenic architecture movement is typically seen in public buildings of British India, like railway stations, boarding schools, and legislative offices. Here its beauty is seen in a chair designed by Lockwood de Forest in 1881-86-Western in form and Indian in ornament.

- AMIN JAFFER

Belonging to the permanent collection New York, this chair reflects the interest in Indian ornament among Western design reformers of the late 19th century. It was conceived by Lockwood de Forest, who in 1879 partnered with Louis Comfort Tiffany-the eponymous founder of the jewellery house-in a firm focused on producing handmade applied art. Their practice reflected the ideals of the Arts and Crafts Movement, a reaction against the mass-market machine-produced furniture and domestic goods that permeated the West in the Industrial Age.