François Linke 1855 - 1946 A gilt-bronze mounted mahogany and satiné cube parquetry vitrine Paris, circa 1910-15, index number 1281

brèche d'alep marble top, signed F. Linke to the central gilt-bronze cartouche above the door, the lock has been removed to reveal the index number 1281 and the CT Linke Serrurerie stamp.

The marble top with scratches to surface; tarnishing and traces of bronze to all mounts; dirt and red wax to all bronze feet; the carcass and veneers overall with usual minor chips, nicks and dents consistent with age and use.
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The glass negative of cliché in the extensive Linke archive for this vitrine shows only one version exactly as the present lot. The lock, numbered 1281 correspond with the inventory number and is signed by Linke's brother, Clément who made most of the locks and hinges for Linke's output from the second half of the 1890s until his death whereupon his son, also named Clément, carried on the independent business in Paris until the 1930s. Linke had made similar vitrines from his very earliest work as an independent furniture maker of meubles de luxe, from the1880s and such models were perennially popular especially in the Louis XV/Transitional vein such as the present lot.

The index number of 1281 would indicate that this model was first made in the 1910 to 1915 period always with the possibility that production might have been delayed by the onslaught of the First World War.

The restrained parquetry on the lower part of the door is an inspiration from the Louis XV period of circa 1750 when Oriental influence, in this case Japanese, became all the rage in French decorative arts. Thus Linke is combining traditional motifs such as the asymmetric rococo mounts in gilt-bronze and cabriole legs with a new modernised form of display cabinet that evolved in the 1880s.

Footnote courtesy of Christopher Payne