françois linke bureau du Roi, index number 710 Paris, circa 1944

amarante, amarante-veneered on solid acajou and Czechoslvakian oak carcass, fruitwood marquetry on sycomore veneers within ébène and buis stringings, the cylinder desk opening to nine drawers veneered in bois de violette, with amarante and flower-head marquetry drawer-fronts above a unlined writing surface with a spring-released door opening to a compartment with three secret drawers, the frieze flanked with two spring-released drawers on each side, the carcass stamped twice F.Linke to the underside.

François Linke’s daughter, Quai Henri IV, Paris

C. Payne, Linke, pps. 218-226, for a discussion on the Bureau du Roi and its variation; pl. 239, for an exquisite drawing of the Bureau du Roi in the Blue Daybook; pl. 203, showing index number 710 at the 1905 Paris Salon du Mobilier Linke stand; p. 465, pl. 553, for a photograph of Linke's showroom in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine showing the Bureau du Roi; and p. 497, for a black and white cliché of index number 710.

D. Meyer, Versailles Furniture of the Royal Palace: 17th and 18th Centuries, Vol. I, p. 122-131; and R. Startmann-Döhler, Jean-François Oeben, p. 76, for illustrations and discussions on the 18th century model circa 1760-1769, by Jean-Francois Oeben and Jean-Henri Riesener.

Linke title: bureau du Roi Louis XV Musée du Louvre

Louis XV’s unique roll top desk, universally referred to as the Bureau du Roi, is one of the most famous pieces of 18th century French furniture.  Pierre Verlet, as Head Curator of Furniture and Works of Art at the Louvre, wrote in 1955: “Il n’est probablement pas au monde de meuble plus célèbre que le grand ‘Secrétaire à cylindre’” (see C. Payne, Linke, p. 218).  The construction of this extraordinary piece was started in 1760 by Jean-François Oeben, finally delivered to the King in May 1769 after its completion by Oeben’s successor, Jean-Henri Riesener.  The desk, which took numerous craftsman and “nine years of painstaking work to bring it to perfection," dominated Riesener’s work during this period. In addition to the intricate marquetry and finely cast mounts, the roll-top desk mechanism was especially ingenious.  It allowed the King to lock all his papers with a single turn of the key while cleverly still permitting servants access to the inkwells through the two side drawers.  The magnificent Bureau du Roi was originally in Louis XV’s study at Versailles. Seemingly too much a reminder of the ancien régime, it was relegated to the office of Napoleon's assistant in the Tuileries in an inventory of 1807. It was moved to the grand salon at the Palais des Tuileries for a short time until transferred to Saint-Cloud by Empress Eugénie in 1855.  In August 1870 it was at the Musée du Louvre before being finally returned to Versailles in 1957.

The extraordinary bronze mounts on the original desk were modeled by Jean-Claude Duplessis père and cast and chased by Louis-Barthelemy Hervieu (maître 1749).  As Riesener’s notes indicate, there were no patterns for this desk as it was a pièce unique and the wax models were inevitably destroyed in the casting process.  It is interesting to note that despite Linke’s extensive documentation on his purchases of various bronze models, there is no indication of how he obtained the models for these important bronze mounts. 

Several alterations to the original design were made by Riesener himself during the post-revolutionary turmoil of 1794, all of which were reflected in subsequent copies of the desk.  He removed the medallion with the king’s effigy around the clock, replaced the intertwined “L”s on the side with Sèvres porcelain plaques which imitated Wedgwoodware and replaced the marquetry  “attributes of Royalty” in the center of the roll-top with scientific instruments. 

The first copy of this celebrated Bureau du Roi was made in Paris by either Drexler or Drescher for the 4th Marquess of Hertford between 1853 and 1870, now in the Wallace Collection in London.  Another important copy was made by Henri Dasson in 1875 and exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1878.  Zwiener followed this tradition and exhibited his copy of the Bureau du Roi at the 1889 exhibition.  Alfred Beurdeley and Jean-Henri Jansen also made copies of the desk. 

François Linke, however, was the most determined maker of the Bureau du Roi, making copies in 1910, 1912, 1922, and 1943.  In addition to copying the celebrated desk itself, Linke took his admiration for this piece a significant step further, adapting the original desk to create a bureau plat, a pedestal, a commode, a bergère, a large bibliothèque, and two pianos, all inspired by the design and mounts of the original desk.

According to the green registre, three examples of this desk were made, with a fourth started or at least restarted after the liberation of Paris on December 31, 1944. It has been assumed that this unfinished version of Linke’s masterpiece is the last one mentioned in his Daybook, which does not show the cost of casting, mounting or chasing of the bronzes. The last complete version finished in January 1922 cost 43,360 francs 30 centimes. However, prices had risen so sharply in the intervening years that the 1940s desk was up to 116,354 francs without any of the bronze work, which in 1922 came to approximately 30,000 francs. The last complete example of 1922 was sold to the King of Egypt and can be viewed at the Abdeen Palace in Cairo, alongside other major pieces by Linke in the King of the Belgians' suite.

One of Linke’s copies sold, Sotheby’s Parke Bernet, February 2, 1976.  Another copy, from the collection of Sir Bernard Eckstein, sold, Sotheby’s, February 25, 1949.

Linke’s metalwork book lists the master patterns he used for his versions of this desk. The buyer of the present lot may consult with the Linke archivist to discuss the completion of this desk.