BY FRANÇOIS LINKE, PARIS, INDEX NO. 672, CIRCA 1921

As noted by Christopher Payne, no description exists for index number 672 in the Linke's Price Lists, nor do the Blue Daybooks give any indication of its design; the only existing record of output lies in a photographic cliché of a similarly designed commode à vantaux. Interestingly, the aforementioned commode, bearing both the same plum-pudding mahogany veneer and cornucopia design as the present footboard, was sold at Sotheby's New York, 24 October 2007 ($121,000). The commode, supplied almost certainly for Don Antonio Devoto, an Italian-born collector and one of Linke's most fervent admirers, raises questions concerning the uniqueness of the design and the likelihood that Devoto may have commissioned a companion piece or suite.

Adding to the rarity of the commode and the apparent companion bedstead is the unusual application of Léon Méssage's putto surmount, more familiarly associated with Linke's Louis XV-inspired furnishings; prime examples being his Bahut marine and another meuble d'appui completed for the 1905 Liège Exhibition (See C. Payne, Woodbridge, 2003, p. 81 & 187). However, the union of the Louis XVI form with this particular mount is not singular; a double bed (Index No. 662) incorporating the same mount and an identically shaped headboard was ordered in 1922 for the Queen 's bedchamber at Ras al-Tin palace in Alexandria, Egypt at a cost of 36,000 Francs (Payne op. cit., p. 278).