François Linke

A Louis XVI Style Gilt Bronze Mounted Mahogany Bahut

French, Circa 1890.

Height: 53 inches / 134 cm
Width: 37 inches / 94 cm
Depth: 17 inches / 43 cm

A Louis XVI Style Gilt Bronze Mounted Mahogany Bahut With a Marble Top and Tambour Doors by François Linke.

Signed 'Linke' to the front; the reverse of the bronze mounts stamped 'FL'.

This important bahut or side cabinet with its complex lower tambour doors follows almost exactly the design for a bahut, no.1108, in Linke's workbook.

Christopher Payne in his book - 'François Linke, 'The belle Époque of French Furniture', illustrates a parquetry version of this bahut [plate 291] and a watercolour design by Linke illustrating the same bahut in a room-design for furniture supplied to the Egyptian Legation, [plate 294-295]. Perhaps due to the complexity of the tambour lower doors and the concave sides of the cabinet, it was to take over 258 hours to complete the cabinetwork alone.

Christopher Payne notes that several of these cabinets were made, including three for the Egyptian Legation in satiné and one for Antonio Devoto. The present example differs from no.1108 in that it is of mahogany rather than satinwood and the central gilt bronze mount to the cabinet doors displays a more lively form; the mount designed as a trophy with a tambourine encircled by foliage suspended from a ribbon.

Literature:
Christopher Payne, 'François Linke, 1855-1946, The Belle Époque of French Furniture', 2003., pp. 276-281, Index no. 1108.

Meyer, Jonathan: 'Great Exhibitions', Antique Collectors club, Woodbridge, 2006, p. 298 - 300.

Denise Ledoux-Lebard, 'Les Ebenistes du XIX Siecle', pps 439-43.

'Revue Artistique & Industrielle', July-August 1900.

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