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François Linke
A Large and Rare Louis XVI Style Vitrine Cabinet
£55,000
A Large and Rare Louis XVI Style Gilt-Bronze Mounted Mahogany Vitrine Cabinet, By François Linke. Paris. The pediment frieze with flower-filled entrelac...
Dimensions
Height: 201 cm (80 in)Width: 124 cm (49 in)
Depth: 42 cm (17 in)
PrintDescription
A Large and Rare Louis XVI Style Gilt-Bronze Mounted Mahogany Vitrine Cabinet, By François Linke. Paris.
The pediment frieze with flower-filled entrelac gilt-bronze mounts. The central glazed door with laurel branches to the top corners set on the glass. The sides with curved ‘S’-shaped glass. The interior with mirrored back and five adjustable glass shelves. Raised on tapering legs and leaf-cast sabots.
Signed ‘F. Linke’ to the gilt-bronze front right corner mount.
The reverse of the lockplate stamped ‘CT. LINKE / SERRURERIE / PARIS’.
France. Circa 1900.
The design is a contemporary rendering of the Louis XVI style evoked by François Linke circa 1900. The exemplary quality is evident in details such as the gilt-bronze laurel mounts on the glass of the front door. The curved ‘S’-shaped side panels show a design flare and technical mastery achievable only by the finest cabinetmaker. A very similar example of this vitrine can be seen in an interior scheme by Linke reproduced in C. Payne, François Linke 1855-1946, The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003, plates 294-5, pp. 280-1.
A related vitrine cabinet shown in an interior design scheme by François Linke. (Image courtesy Christopher Payne / Linke Archive. Illustrated in C. Payne, ‘François Linke 1855-1946, The Belle Epoque of French Furniture’, Woodbridge, 2003, plates 294-5, pp. 280-1)
Date
Circa 1900
Origin
France
Medium
Mahogany and Gilt-Bronze
Signature
Signed ‘F. Linke’ to the gilt-bronze front right corner mount. The reverse of the lockplate stamped ‘CT. LINKE / SERRURERIE / PARIS’.
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.
It is known that the fledgling Linke workshops were active in Paris in the Faubourg St. Antoine as early as 1881, and during this time he supplied furniture for other more established makers such as Jansen and Krieger.
The quality of Linke’s craftsmanship was unsurpassed by any of his contemporaries and reached its peak with his spectacular stand at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900, where his Grand Bureau took the gold medal. He gambled his fortune and reputation on this stand, exhibiting several breathtaking items of furniture with sculptural mounts of the most exceptional quality and proportion. His gamble worked and his reputation was established to such an extent that Linke continued to be the pre-eminent furniture house in Paris until the Second World War.
As 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….’
The formation of Linke’s distinctive style was made possible by his collaboration with the sculptor Léon Messagé. Together Linke and Messagé designed furniture for Linke’s 1900 exhibition stand, with exuberant allegorical figures cast in high relief, that exemplified Linke’s ability to seamlessly merge the different mediums of wood carving, bronze and marquetry into a dynamic unified whole.
Today Linke is best known for the exceptionally high quality of his work, as well as his individualism and inventiveness. All of his work has the finest, most lavish mounts, very often applied to comparatively simple carcasses. The technical brilliance of his work and the artistic change that it represented were never to be repeated.
Bibliography:
Payne, Christopher. François Linke, (1855 – 1946), The Belle Époque of French Furniture, Antique Collectors’ Club, (Woodbridge, UK), 2003.
Meyer, Jonathan. Great Exhibitions – London, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, 1851-1900, Antique Collectors’ Club, (Woodbridge, UK), 2006; pp. 298 – 300.
Ledoux – Lebard, Denise. Les Ébénistes du XIXe siècle, Les Editions de l’Amateur, (Paris), 1984; pp. 439-43.
Revue Artistique & Industrielle, (Paris), July-August 1900.
Coral Thomsen, D. (ed), The Paris Exhibition 1900, The Art Journal, 1901; p.341.
C. Payne, François Linke 1855-1946, The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003, plates 294-5, pp. 280-1.
