The illustrator Georges Lepape was born in Paris where he studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and at the ateliers of Humbert and Cormon. In 1910 he was commissioned by the designer Paul Poiret to illustrate the follow-up to his successful fashion album ‘Les Robes de Paul Poiret’. Lepape's illustrations for ‘Les Choses de Paul Poiret’ brought him instant fame and with that came many opportunities for other fashion assignments. He became a major Art Deco fashion illustrator with his work published in leading Parisian periodicals.

The clothes of the bowing black child servant in this illustration reveal the influence of 'Orientalism' upon the Art Deco style. Both Poiret and Lepape were inspired by the costume designs created by Leon Bakst for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, which saw female characters wearing turbans and ‘harem pants’. The servant also reflects the Parisian passion for all things ‘African’. This interest in Black culture found commercial success in the Art Deco style which frequently borrowed aspects of African design to create ‘exotic’ objects for European consumers.