A UNIQUE LOW CABINET, 1927-28

Georges-Marie Haardt was a director of the automobile company Citroën in Paris. In 1924/25, he took part with André Citroën and Louis Andouin-Dubreuil in an expedition, dubbed 'Croisière Noire', crossing the African continent to demonstrate the superior performance and durability of Citroën vehicles. After his return, he asked Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann to decorate his apartment on the rue de Rivoli in Paris, including a study. Ruhlmann designed the study to be a monument to Haardt's successful African expedition. The trio of explorers had been accompanied by the painter Alexandre Iacovleff, who contributed a large painting of the former Nigerian capital Zinder to the study. Ruhlmann designed the present low cabinet to be placed in front of this canvas, with two enormous tusks mounted on the wall on either side of the cabinet, resting on its side extensions.
After Haardt's death in 1932, André Citroën and Haardt's sons reconstructed the apartment at the Musée Citroën in Paris, and it was subsequently shown at the Musée des Colonies in Paris (later the Musée National des Arts d'Afrique et d'Oceanie).