François Linke French, 1855 - 1946 An important and unique pair of Louis XIV style ebony and brass and tortoiseshell-inlaid Boulle marquetry bahut à deux corps Paris, 1913-14, index number 2488, after the model in the musée du Louvre

Christopher Payne, François Linke 1855 – 1946, The Belle Époque of French Furniture, 2003, pp. 195- 196, pl. 211-213, for the watercolor print of the present model and for an illustration of the present lot.

Christopher Payne, 19th Century European Furniture, London, 2013, p. 29, illustrated

D. Alcouffe et al., Furniture Collections in the Louvre, vol. I, p. 60-63 for the 18th century model, circa 1700, by André-Charles Boulle.

Commonly known as the Lambert-Harcourt cabinets, the original pair of cabinet on stands was a tour de force of cabinetmaking by Andre-Charles Boulle. He created the original pair circa 1700 most probably from a commission by the first architect of the King from 1699 to 1708: Jules Hardouin-Mansant (1645-1708). Boulle cleverly rendered the cabinets in both première-partie, or marquetry in which tortoiseshell is the background material and pewter, brass, and silvered metal are inlaid into it, and contre-partie, or marquetry in which the background is metal while the inlay is tortoiseshell. This playful inversion of materials creates a harmonious interaction between the stands and their cabinets. Each cabinet is centered by a standing figure of King Louis XIV wearing a cloak decorated with fleurs-de-lis. His strong pose, muscular body, and military accessories iconographically allude to his association with both the figure of Hercules and the artistic portrayal of Roman emperors.

Apart from those in the permanent collection at the Louvre under inventory number (OA 5468), no other examples are known. In the nineteenth century, Boulle's cabinets were placed in the Gallerie d'Apollon at the Palais de Saint-Cloud. King Louis-Philippe had them adapted to become a pair meuble à hauteur d'appui. He did so by adding marble tops and toupie feet, while also converting the stands into consoles. In 1870 they returned to the Louvre under the reign of Napoléon III, where they were restored to their original state by Emile Molinier, keeper of the Département des Objets d'Art.

The François Linke unique recreation:

Linke title: Meubles bahut Boulle à deux corps d'aprés le Musée du Louvre en marqueterie

Unusually, the green registre shows that Linke himself spent time working on the cabinetmaking of these cabinets, on December 31, 1913. The green registre shows that this pair of cabinets was a one-off order from a Mr. Nogueira in 1913, Commande 1825. The cost was 4,940.70 francs for each cabinet.  In an invoice dated March 24, 1914, addressed to J. P. Nogueira, Filho 8, Avenue du Parc Monceau, it can be seen that Linke charged his client 19,000 francs for the present lot. However, the client also bought another celebrated Boulle armoire also now in the Louvre, Linke archive number 917, for 25,000 francs (Louvre, inv. OA 5441). Linke reduced the total bill of 44,000 francs to 36,000. It is interesting to note that the fine quality chasing on the bronze mounts of this pair of cabinets alone cost 465 francs, almost ten percent of the cost of each cabinet. The brass and tortoiseshell marquetry cost 1,600 francs for each cabinet and, as usual, Clément Linke furnished the locks and hinges. The modeling costs of the bronzes are listed in some detail totaling approximately 2,613 francs. The registre lists in detail some of the bronze mounts numbering between 5134 and 5147, although clearly this is not the complete set. These costs do not appear to have been accounted for in the cost price of each cabinet. Either Linke recouped enough on his retail price to Mr. Nogueira, or he was hoping to make more examples to defray expenses. In keeping with other seemingly unique special orders, for example lot 168 in the present sale, there is no price in Linke’s pricelist for these cabinets. A watercolor in the Linke Archive (Payne, Linke, pl. 211) shows a simplified variation of this celebrated cabinet without the bronze plaque of Louis XVI as the Sun King, and without the elaborate bronze mount on the drawer of the lower plaque. It is assumed that this simplified version was never executed.  

"The François Linke unique recreation" footnote courtesy of Christopher Payne