This chair is part of a large suite of bedroom furniture made for a Paris apartment. It is designed in a modified Louis XVI style, seen through the eyes of 19th century revivals. In this it shows clearly the historicising character of much 'progressive' French design of the early decades of the 1900s. The brocaded silk was also used for curtains, hangings and covers in the bedroom (see Museum no. W.46-1981).

Born in 1884, André Groult was a French decorator and designer who began exhibiting his works at the Salon d'Autumne and at the Artistes Décorateurs in 1910. After working for La Maison Moderne, Groult established his own business and became well-known for work combining the aesthetics of Art Nouveau with the Restoration, Louis Philippe, and other traditional styles of the 18th and 19th centuries. One of his best known works was displayed at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, where he created Chamber de Madame, a ladies’ bedchamber room for the Ambassade Français.

Born in Paris in 1877, Follot initially trained as a sculptor under the Swiss decorative artist Eugène Grasset and in 1901 made decorative art objects for La Maison Moderne in Paris. Follot was a founder of L'Art dans Tout, an artistic movement active from 1896 to 1901, bringing together architects, painters, engravers, sculptors with the aim of breaking down the barrier between the arts, industry and everyday life. Follot's exhibition at the Salon d'Automne in 1912 which he featured a combination of dining room furniture is widely considered to be one of the first examples of art deco. In 1911, Follet worked for Wedgwood and later collaborated with Waring & Gillow.