A Fine Louis XV Style Table Vitrine by François Linke

A Fine Louis XV Style Gilt-Bronze Mounted Table Vitrine by François Linke.  

French, Circa 1900.

Linke Index Number 131.  

The lockplate signed 'F.Linke', the mounts variously incised 'FL', the escutcheon stamped 'FL 2385'.  The lock plate stamped to the reverse 'CT LINKE' '131'.

 
This rare vitrine table with its distinctive shell mount to the frieze is a fine example of Linke's collaboration with the sculptor Léon Messagé, with whom he worked for his gold medal winning stand at the 1900 Paris Exhibition.  Linke first made this design in the late 1890's and the final example in 1919.  A watercolour design for the vitrine re-envisioned as a jardiniere survives in the Linke archives and is illustrated in C. Payne, 'François Linke 1855-1946, The Belle Epoque of French Furniture', pl. 519.

François Linke (1855 - 1946) was the most important Parisian cabinet maker of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and possibly the most sought after cabinet maker of his period.

He was born in 1855 in the small village of Pankraz, in what is now the Czech Republic.  Records show that Linke served an apprenticeship with the master cabinetmaker Neumann, then in 1875 at the age of 20 he arrived in Paris where he lived until he died in 1946.

Literature:
 
Payne, Christopher. François Linke, (1855 - 1946), The Belle Époque of French Furniture, Antique Collectors' Club, (Woodbridge, UK), 2003; p.247, p.441, pl. 519. 

Dimensions

Price on application

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

Stock number