François Linke (1855-1946)

gilt bronze, kingwood, bois satiné

signed ‘Linke’, stamped ‘FL’ to the reverse of the bronze mounts

Linke Index no. 930 

Please note that this piece currently located in Hong Kong

The Feather Collection.

C. Payne, François Linke, The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003, p.170 and p.171, pl. 184 and 185. (the variation with a stretcher)

Ibid., pp.172-173, pl. 187 (the larger version of this model)

The mounts at the top of the legs on this table, of the female bust form known as ‘espagnolettes’, are identified by Linke allegories for Modesty and Coquetry.

The large shells on the other mounts are thematically connected to these two contrasting beauties: Linke is probably making a slightly cheeky reference to the Ancient Roman goddess of love, Venus, who was born fully grown from the sea and emerged onto land on a scallop shell. The other mounts are of the masterful quality so typical of Linke’s output – the raised twigs forming the handles of the drawers can often be seen on eighteenth-century commodes, but usually in the form of simpler acanthus leaves, whereas Linke gives them clear and naturalistic character by making them recognisable oak leaves with acorns nestled inside.

These mounts were bought by Linke from the sculptor Léon Messagé for a substantial amount, allowing him to use them repeatedly across several models. These mounts first featured on an earlier piece featured in the 1900 Paris Exhibition called the commode coquille (index number 559 in Linke’s catalogue) and were later adapted for use on this table. This table was available in various sizes, with the largest one intended to be shown alongside the commode coquille at the Exhibition and also including a stretcher. The larger models, which were also more common than the present example, feature a gilt-bronze sculpture of two cherubs playing that is taken from the sculpture La Source and that Linke also used for an inkstand. The table proved highly popular, and can be glimpsed on period photographs in the residences of the Linke clients Elias Meyer and King Fuad I of Egypt. This smaller model without the stretcher is far rarer – no other documented matching examples appear to have come to market.

François Linke (1855-1946) was the foremost furnituremaker of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, blending an originality of design with a remarkably high quality of craftsmanship across all of his pieces. His era, often called the Belle Epoque, was one that had experienced rapid social and economic change, and perhaps because of this, was highly enamoured of the furniture and art produced during the elegant century before the seismic shift of the French Revolution in 1789. Linke, like numerous other luxury furniture makers of the Belle Epoque, shrewdly met this demand by creating wonderfully fine pieces that were clearly in historical styles, but were creative with these conventions to make pieces that were often more fresh and exciting than antiques pieces themselves. Linke was born Bohemia and travelled across Central Europe before moving to Paris in 1875, where his workshops were documented as early as 1881; he supplied to many of the top clients and patrons of the day, and he was awarded with a gold medal in recognition of his ambitious stand of exceptional pieces of furniture at the Paris Exhibition in 1900.