Chicorée style buffet

After France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), Germany annexed the region of Alsace, and its residents, many of whom considered themselves French, emigrated in large numbers. As a result, the small city of Nancy in nearby Lorraine became a powerhouse of French craftsmanship. Alongside the glassmaker Émile Gallé (whose vase in on view in G379), the cabinetmaker Louis Majorelle made the city synonymous with the naturalistic forms of Art Nouveau. The suite of furniture from which this buffet comes is named for the chicory plant, whose leaves ornament the walnut carving.