19th-20th Century Louis XV Gilt Bronze-Mounted Table, Francois Linke Attributed

A fine French 19th-20th century Mahogany and Gilt-Bronze (Ormolu) Mounted Belle Époque Gueridon Circular Side-Table with Marble Top, Attributed to François Linke (1855-1946). The sin...

A Very Fine French Late 19th/Early 20th Century Louis XV Style Ormolu Mounted Kingwood, Bois Satine, Mahogany, Marquetry and Parquetry Gueridon (Round End-Table), Attributed to François Linke (1855-1946). The circular marquetry top with trellis inlay encompass by a ribbon-tied floral and ribbon entwining inlaid surround, above a frieze interspersed with four abundant floral, foliate and entwined opposing cornucopia mounts each centered by a bacchanal mask, with one frieze drawer, on slender cabriolet legs with an up swept X-stretcher surmounted by a circular under-tier with a basket weave mounted gallery. Bearing the fine quality furnishings retailer's plaque which reads: 'S. & H. Jewell, 131 & 132, High Holborn, London, W.C'. Circa: Paris, 1900. S & H Jewell are first recorded in 1830 as fine quality retailers, restorers and cabinet makers. They were a family business who worked from their premises at 29-31 Little Queen Street, Holborn, in London and then later to 26 Parker Street and then at 131 - 131, High Holborn, both in London W.C. They are recorded to have sold furniture to the Arts and Crafts home...

A very fine French early 20th century Empire style ormolu and figural patinated bronze-mounted amboyna and veined Verde d'Alps marble top "Gueridon" attributed to François Linke (185...

A fine French 19th century gilt-bronze (Ormolu) mounted, mahogany and tulipwood marquetry oval Gueridon (side) table with marble top, attributed to François Linke (1855-1946). The in...

A very fine French 19th-early 20th century Louis XV style mahogany, tulipwood, parquetry and ormolu mounted oval gueridon side table with a Brêche Violette marble top, attributed to François Linke (1855-1946). The inset oval Brêche Violette marble top with a gilt-bronze surround, above a lozenge parquetry frieze with foliate ormolu mounts, with a drawer to one side, on cabriole legs headed by clasps and joined by an 'X'-shaped stretcher centered by a foliate finial, on scroll sabots. Unsigned. Circa: Paris, 1900. Another almost identical table by François Linke (1855-1946) was sold at Christie's London 19th Century Furniture, Sculpture, Works of Art and Ceramics, Sale 7569 on 18 March 2008, Lot 66. François Linke (1855-1946) was one of the most celebrated ébénistes of his time. Born in Pankraz, Bohemia, Linke moved to Paris in 1875 and six years later established independent ateliers at 170, rue de Faubourg St. Antoine. As was the practice among contemporaries and noteworthy predecessors, such as Alfred Beurdeley and Henry Dasson, Linke initially produced furniture derived from styles popular during the 18th century ancien régime. By 1900, his worldwide reputation as an individualistic master of high quality furniture was already established. However, with a huge display, placing his extravagant pieces in room settings and winning the Médaille d'Or for his Grand Bureau, Linke's participation in the Paris 1900 exhibition...

A fine French 19th-20th century kingwood and tulipwood marquetry and gilt-bronze mounted vitrine, in the manner of François Linke (1855-1946). The slender single door display cabinet with a red-velvet backing and bowed glass panels surmounted with acanthus and floral gilt-bronze mounts in the style of Léon Messagé (French, 1842-1901), the serpentine shaped front door with an ornate marquetry and ink colored panel depicting wreaths, ribbons and tied acantus leaves, all raised on four cabriolet legs ending with gilt-bronze paw-feet, Paris, circa 1900. Linke was born on 17 June 1855 in the small village of Pankraz, in what is now the Czech Republic. Records show that Linke served an apprenticeship with the master cabinet maker, Neumann, which he completed in 1877. Linke’s work book or Arbeits-Buch records that he was in Vienna from July 1872 to October 1873 at the time of the International Exhibition held there in 1873. He subsequently travelled to Prague, Budapest & Weimar before finally arriving in Paris in 1875. It is documented that he obtained employment with an unknown German cabinetmaker in Paris, and stylistic similarities, photographs and geographical proximity have led some to suggest that Emmanuel Zwiener was the most likely candidate. After a period back in his home town of Pankratz, he returned once and for all to Paris in 1877. In 1878 Paris hosted the third great International Exhibition, a remarkable success for a country ravaged by war only seven years earlier. It is known that the fledgling Linke workshops were active in the Faubourg St. Antoine as early as 1881, during this time he supplied furniture for other more established makers such as Jansen and Krieger. By 1889 another World’s Fair, as they were often referred to in America, took place in Paris. Monsieur Eiffel erected what has become the most iconic building in Paris for the exhibition and the atmosphere of wealth and confidence may well have encouraged Linke to think that he could contribute an important part to the next great exhibition. As early as 1892 this was decreed to take place at the end of the century, in an attempt to pre-empt Berlin from staging the last great show of the century. In 1892, Victor Champier (fr) one of the commissioners for the 1900 Paris Fair had appealed, “Create in the manner of the masters, do not copy what they have made”. It was an appeal against mere reproduction and Linke rose to this challenge in an unparalleled way with his unique display that was to include the Grand Bureau. Determined to outshine the competition at the Exhibition, Linke had set about creating the most ambitious pieces he could envisage, and more extravagant than had ever been displayed before. The items he exhibited marked a transition from the historicist interpretation of Louis XV and Louis XVI styles, an interpretation that was the mainstay of his nearest rivals, to something startlingly new and vital in its immediacy. [6] Together with Léon Messagé he developed a new style for the 1900 Exhibition that paid homage to the Louis XV rococo in the fluidity of its approach, but an approach fused with the lively flowing lines of the contemporary and progressive 'art nouveau'. The Art Journal reported in 1900 on Linke's stand: "The work of M. Linke ... was an example of what can be done by seeking inspiration amongst the classic examples of Louis XV and XVI without in any great sense copying these great works. M. Linke's work was original in the true sense of the word, and as such commended itself to the intelligent seeker after the really artistic things of the Exhibition. Wonderful talent was employed in producing the magnificent pieces of furniture displayed". Linke's stand would have appeared refreshingly new to contemporary onlookers, the traditional designs of the eighteenth century melting seamlessly into an exuberant naturalism. The 'Revue' described Linke's style as 'entièrement nouveaux' and noted "This opinion is universally accepted. Linke's stand is the biggest show in the history of art furniture in the year 1900". It is perhaps the most extraordinary and remarkable aspect of Linke’s personal history that he produced such expensive and luxurious furniture of exquisite quality for the 1900 exhibition without any commission or any potential buyer in mind. [9] At a time when other more established furniture businesses such as those of Beurdeley and Dasson were closing down, he made a huge investment in his stand and the furniture he supplied for it. Linke recognised that to move his business forward he needed to appeal to a more International clientele and the new emerging rich who were at this time amassing fortunes on an unprecedented scale. For this reason he gambled everything he had on his display for the 1900 exhibition. Had this not succeeded he would almost certainly have succumbed to bankruptcy. Linke’s notebook records visitors to his stand from England, Europe, the Americas, Egypt and Japan and including; the King of Sweden, three visits from the King of Belgium, Prince Radziwill, the Prince d’Arenberg, the Comte Alberic du Chastel, Miss Anna May Gould, the American heiress, distinguished furniture makers and the President of France Emile Loubet. This risky endeavour was a resounding success, and with his reputation established, La Maison Linke became the pre-eminent furniture house until outset of the Second World War. The technical brilliance of his work and the artistic change that it represented was never to be repeated. His showrooms expanded into prestigious premises in Paris, in the Place Vendôme as well as the Faubourg St. Antoine where his workshop had been established. He embarked on many important commissions in the years up to the outbreak of the First World War, making and designing furniture for leading international industrialists and bankers. After the 1914-1918 World War, Linke undertook the extraordinary commission to furnish the Ras al-Tin Palace in Alexandria for King Fuad of Egypt, possibly the largest single furniture commission ever conceived, eclipsing even Versailles. Linke flourished and remained active until the middle years of the 1930s and died in 1946 Léon Messagé (1842-1901) was a French sculptor, best known for his sculptural collaboration with François Linke for the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. Messagé was also responsible for much of the design and creative work for Roux et Brunet...

19th Century. French. Bronze-mounted. Signed Linke. Original marble top.

François Linke, (1855-1946) A Louis XV style ormolu-mounted kingwood and parquetry mueble d'appui, By Francois Linke, Index number 204, For Maison Krieger, Paris, Early 20th cen...

A fantastic late 19th century gilt bronze-mounted Louis XV style kingwood centre table By François Linke With serpentine-grey and yellow marble top, above a frieze drawer centr...

A superb late 19th century gilt bronze mounted Regence style center table by François Linke The inset shaped marble top above a single drawer centered with a winged cherub head, t...

An Exceptionally Rare and Important Louis XV Style Gilt-Bronze Mounted Marquetry Inlaid Centre Table by François Linke, the Mounts Designed by Léon Messagé. Linke Index No. 930. Signed 'Linke' to the upper bronze moulding. Stamped 'FL' to the reverse of the bronze mounts. Stamped to the carcass 'Made in France’. Of exhibition quality this magnificent table has a fine marquetry inlaid top and sumptuous gilt-bronze mounts, designed and sculpted by Léon Messagé. The shaped gilt-bronze mounted serpentine top is finely inlaid with scrolling bois de bout floral marquetry, above an undulating frieze set to the front with a long drawer and centred by a female mask, the sides are mounted with exuberant scallop-shell mounts and the angles with lively and emotive female espagnolettes emblematic of Modestie and Coquetterie; the table is raised on cabriole legs terminating in shell-capped scrolled sabots. A rare example in Linke’s oeuvre, the table is a variation of a larger example index number 930, described by Linke as modèle riche, which included an elaborate stretcher with banner-bearing cherubs based on Léon Messagé's celebrated sculptural group 'La Source' (illustrated C. Payne, François Linke: The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003; p.172, Pl. 186). Linke workshop's cliché of the larger modèle riche is illustrated in C. Payne, François Linke: The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003; p.483. The exceptional sculptural mounts are characteristic of the very finest 19th Century furniture created through François Linke and Léon Messagé’s collaboration. Messagé’s enhanced Louis XV Rococo style embraces the asymmetrical lines of designers such as J.A. Meissonnier, to create lively and emotive figures linked by sinuous encadrement, but cleverly modernised to reflect the surge of popularity of the Art Nouveau. The female busts, referred to by Linke as Coquetterie et Modestie, although reminiscent of the paintings of François Boucher and Flaconet have moved on in their design from the classical espagnolette, introduced by Charles Cressent in the 18th century, to become something new and vital. Designed for the celebrated 'Commode coquille: Coquetterie et Modestie' (index 559), presented at his award-winning stand at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, (C. Payne, François Linke: The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003; p.142-144, pl. 151), Linke was obliged to purchase their design at a tremendous cost from Messagé. First castings began in 1897 and they proved fruitful for Linke, becoming a favourite mount, repurposed by Linke for use on a number of important designs. The larger version of the current table was intended to be displayed en suite with the commode but was not ready in time for the exhibition. It was first exhibited at the Salon des Industries du Mobilier in 1902, and again in Liège in 1905 (C. Payne, François Linke: The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003; p. 170-173). Available in three sizes, 132 cm x 72 cm, 138 x 75 cm and an even larger version (index no. 965) the design proved popular with Linke’s clientele, which included commissions supplied to Elias Meyer in 1909 (Illustrated C. Payne; p.243, pl. 258), Madame d’Astoreca in 1910, Antonio Devoto...

An elegant and very high quality French 19th century Louis XVI st. Kingwood, Mahogany, ormolu, and Arabescato marble center/side table attributed to François Linke. The table is rais...