An Exceptional Louis XVI Style Vitrine Cabinet

Object Description

An Exceptional Louis XVI Style Vitrine Cabinet
By François Linke

Index no. 421

Of elegant breakfront form, surmounted by a stepped pediment top inset with three shaped and moulded breccia marble slabs within an egg-and-dart moulded surround, the scrolled frieze above a central door of cubed bois satiné parquetry and mounted with a superb gilt-bronze figure of Erato, the Muse of Poetry, dancing with a tambourine amidst foliate scrollwork atop a classical urn supported by herm figures. The door opens to reveal an oak-lined interior with four adjustable shelves. Flanked by glazed vitrines to either side, each with bevelled glass doors and mirrored backs enclosing three glass shelves and a fabric lining, the uprights adorned with ribbon-tied foliate clasps, and raised on fluted tapering legs terminating in leaf-cast sabots. The lock signed ‘Linke’ and the back of the mounts bearing the initials ‘FL.’
French, circa 1900

Object History

The central mount is based on a celebrated model exhibited by Christofle at the 1878 Exposition Universelle in Paris and illustrated in the Illustrated Catalogue Paris International Exhibition, p. 137. This figure of Erato is emblematic of Linke’s synthesis of classical themes with Belle Époque refinement.

Object Condition

Excellent condition

Object Details