A Fine Louis XVI Style Centre Table by François Linke

Object Description

A Fine Louis XVI Style Centre Table
By François Linke, Index no. 118

Constructed from mahogany and dressed with finely cast, hand-chased and gilded bronze mounts; supported on tapering legs with foliate bronze sabots and ribbon-tied floral garlands draped along the sides, the breakfront frieze housing a drawer, panelled and set with ormolu rinceaux and a central mask of Apollo flanked by cornucopia and animals; surmounted by an impressive fleur-de-pêcher marble platform top within a fitted ormolu guard.
French, circa 1905

Linke Index no. 118

Described in François Linke’s archives and daybooks as ‘Table Louis XVI, bois d’acajou bronze dorés,’ this elegant table features the cabinetmaker’s preferred marble, fleur de pêcher. Together with the early drawings, pencil sketches, photographs, and description in the price list, it is without a doubt an exceptional table authored by Linke in Paris. A version was made and documented in the archives in 1904-1908.

Object Literature

François Linke

Linke was undoubtedly the most important Parisian eìbeìniste of his time. Having served an apprenticeship in his home town of Pankraz, Bohemia, Linke arrived in Paris in 1875 and set up independent workshops at 170, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine in 1881 and later also at 26, Place Vendôme. By the time of the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, Linke’s worldwide reputation as a master of high individualism and inventiveness was already established and unmatched by his contemporaries. His success at the 1900 exhibition afforded Linke a high degree of financial stability and allowed him to pursue new markets by exhibiting at subsequent international fairs. Like the inventories of contemporaries such as Beurdeley and Dasson, Linke’s oeuvre included copies and adaptations of the distinct styles of 18th century important and royal French furniture. However his most extravagant exhibition pieces combined the Louis XV style with the new Art Nouveau style. Linke’s frequent collaborator for his designs was the celebrated sculptor Leìon Messageì. In 1904, he was made Officier de L’Iinstruction Publique, and in 1905 he was called to be a member of the Jury of the LieÌge exhibition. Following his stands in the St- Louis (U.S.A.) exhibition in 1904 and the LieÌge exhibition in 1905, Linke was decorated with the highest distinction of France, the Croix de la Leìgion d’Honneur, on October 11, 1906.

Object Condition

Excellent condition

Object Details