Louis XV Style Vitrine Table, François Linke And Léon Messagé French, Circa 1900
Brighton, United Kingdom
£46,125 per item
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Item details
Height
77.0 cm
Width
71.0 cm
Depth
58.0 cm
Wear conditions
Good
Wear conditions
Excellent
Shows little to no signs of wear and tear.
Good
May show slight traces of use in keeping with age. Most vintage and antique items fit into this condition.
Average
Likely to show signs of some light scratching and ageing but still remains in a fair condition.
Apparent Wear and Tear
Visible signs of previous use including scratches, chips or stains.
Please refer to condition report, images or make a seller enquiry for additional information.
Description
A fine Louis XV Style gilt bronze mounted table Vitrine, by François Linke, the mounts designed by Léon Messagé.
Index Number 131.
This elegant table vitrine has a glazed hinged top opening to a silk lined interior, the frieze centred by a mask escutcheon, on delicate cabriole legs headed by foliate cast gilt bronze clasps and terminating in scrolling sabots.
Linke produced this elegant vitrine table in two sizes between 1890 and 1919. The mask escutcheon, symbolic of autumn, can be related to Messagé’s mounts for a gaine designed for Linke’s gold-medal winning Stand at the 1900 Exposition Universelle. Other examples of this vitrine table are known with Messagé’s distinctive shell mount to the frieze.
One of Linke's favourite designs, he re-envisioned the table as a jardinière in water-color drawing for an anonymous client, though no record exists if the piece was ever executed. The drawing of the jardiniere is illustrated in C. Payne, 'François Linke 1855-1946, The Belle Époque of French Furniture', p.441, pl. 519.
François Linke
François Linke (1855-1946) was the most important Parisian cabinet maker of the late 19th and early 20th 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.
French, circa 1900.
Literature
Payne, Christopher. François Linke, (1855-1946), The Belle Époque of French Furniture, Antique Collectors' Club, (Woodbridge, UK), 2003; p.441, pl. 519.
Condition report:
Good. Wear consistent with age and use.
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Free collection available
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Last updated: 24th March 2025
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