This side chair was originally part of a complete dining room suite acquired in 1900 from Samuel Bing's "L'Art Nouveau" shop in Paris by Mr. and Mrs. Knut Andersson, a Swedish couple on their honeymoon. For the great Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, Bing concentrated exclusively on the work of French designers, presenting a pavilion with rooms decorated to resemble a luxuriously appointed modern interior. The chair's curvaceous form and undulating whiplash motif (seen in the hand-tooled leather) are the hallmarks of French Art Nouveau.