Lot 59
  • 59

François Linke 1855 - 1946 A Louis XV style gilt-bronze mounted satiné and fruitwood marquetry commode, Paris, early 20th century, index number 545

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Description

  • François Linke
  • gilt-bronze mounted satiné and fruitwood marquetry, pine, beech, oak, metal
  • height 35 in.; width 41 in.; depth 20 in.
  • 89 cm; 105 cm; 52 cm
surmounted with a brèche de Bénou marble top above two long drawers, one lock has been removed to reveal the stamp CT LINKE / SERRURERIE / PARIS and stamped with the index number 545, signed LINKE to the proper left hand chute.

Literature

Payne, C., François Linke 1855-1946 The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Antique Collector's Club Ltd., Woodbridge, 2003, p. 382 for a discussion on this model, and page 492 for a black and white photograph of this commode

Catalogue Note

Linke's régister notes that he completed four commodes of this model, titled "commode singe et écrureuil" in 1938. The distinctive and playful marquetry design repeated on each commode was by the renowned marqueteur Imauville. 

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’Iinstruction 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.