Indochinese Solid Wood Plateau - Dragons - epoch : Art Nouveau

Large rectangular table top called "service" in carved solid wood. The very worked sculpture with mythological theme presenting two dragons.  Beautiful build quality. Asia, french indochina (vietnam).   Period: late nineteenth – early twentieth. Dimensions: width: 31.5cm X length: 51cm X depth: 2cm. Indochina was considered in the twentieth century as one of the most important french colonies.  Contacts between this territory and france began with missionary shipments and trade. In 1857, following the execution of spanish missionaries, napoleon III launched an expedition to tourane, in annam (a province of present-day vietnam).  This franco-spanish expedition marked the beginning of a desire for colonial conquest.  From this date, the french army will gradually conquer annam, tonkin, cochinchina (three provinces constituting present-day vietnam), as well as laos and cambodia leading in 1887 to the creation of the indochinese union. The french presence in indochina gave rise to a mixture of artistic productions, on the one hand by the action of the metropolis which wished to "civilize" the colony and on the other hand by the attraction of the metropolitans for a foreign art and way of life, considered then as   "exotic".