François Linke 1855 - 1946 "L'enfant Guerrier", a fine gilt-bronze and fleur de pêcher marble figure, Paris, late 19th/early 20th century, after the celebrated design by Léon Messagé

signed F. Linke to the proper right hand side

C. Payne, François Linke 1855-1946,The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Antique Collector's club, Woodbridge, 2003. p. 337, pl 365

The present sculptural model is an iconic figure used by François Linke in several of his most important creations. It was such a successful and attractive rendering of a Cupid, allegorical of the power of France, that François Linke decided to use it as a desk or table decoration in the present lot.

Léon Messagé was, for at least the early part of his career, an independent sculptor and designer, designing furniture in an elaborate Rococo revival form as well as silver and other decorative objects. He is most remembered today for his sculptural mounts and his ability to translate his elaborate drawings into three dimensions, creating gilt-bronze models of a unique character and form. He published a quantity of his work in his Cahier des Dessins & Croquis Style Louis XV, the second issue being circa 1890 whilst Zwiener was still in Paris and Linke had become an independent maker in his own right. Messagé's 'Cahier' shows that he too was an independent designer, having supplied designs to Linke since circa 1885 and working with or for Zwiener since probably 1880 or 1881.

François Linke (1855-1946) was undoubtedly the most important Parisian ébéniste 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 eighteenth 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 Léon Messagé.  In 1904, he was made Officier de L’Instruction Publique, and in 1905 he was called to be a member of the Jury of the Liège exhibition.  Following his stands in the St- Louis (U.S.A.) exhibition in 1904 and the Liège exhibition in 1905, Linke was decorated with the highest distinction of France, the Croix de la Légion d’Honneur, on October 11, 1906.