Description
Francois Linke Index 38
A fine quality gilt bronze mounted rosewood vitrine by Francois Linke. The original ‘Breche violet’ marble top above a frieze decorated with floral swags and ‘putti at play’, a single bevelled glazed door to the front enclosing an adjustable glass shelved interior with mirror back, and glazed sides. The canted corners dressed with interlaced acanthus drops. The base supported by turned spiral fluted tapering legs ending in acanthus sabots. The carcass of oak construction. Fine original gilding, key and condition throughout. Mounts incised ‘FL’. Clement Linke Lock.
Height 60 1/4″ (153cm)
Width 26 1/2″ (67.3cm)
Depth 14 3/4″ (37.5cm)
French
Circa 1900
Linke was born in Pankraz in Bohemia and was celebrated by the French as one of the greatest ébénistes of meubles de style at the turn of the century. He began his apprenticeship with a Bohemian master at the age of thirteen. Four years later, he toured Austria, settling and working in Vienna for two years. Linke arrived in Paris in 1875, and by 1881 he had established his own small workshop at 170 rue du Faubourg St. Antoine. Taking 18th century styles as his starting point and adapting earlier styles to contemporary taste, Linke produced fine quality furniture, steadily expanding his business during the next 20 years. He firmly established his reputation after receiving a gold medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900 for his extraordinary Grand Bureau. Today, as in the past, 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.The technical brilliance of his work and the artistic change that it represented has never been repeated.
