Piano and Stool

This piano and stool, initially shown at the 1908 Paris Salon of the Société des artistes décorateurs, was designed by Paul Follot. He was one of the pre-eminent designers working in France in the early decades of the twentieth century. The piano is executed in exotic wood veneers and mounted in gilt bronze, recalling the great luxury cabinetmaking traditions of eighteenth-century France. The Art Nouveau design elements of the piano are treated in an attenuated geometric manner, reflecting significant new design influences then coming from Germany, Austria and Scotland. The same classically based architectonic approach to design was to influence Follot’s later works in the more rectilinear Art Deco style. This piano marks an early transitional stage between these two styles.