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Lot Essay
The design of the present commode relates closely to that of a pair, adapted by Guillaume Benneman from a model by Joseph Stöckel, supplied to Marie-Antoinette in 1786 and now displayed in the salon des jeux at Fontainebleau.
Meeting the continued demand for French Royal Furniture but perhaps acknowledging that not everybody has rooms of suitably palatial proportions, Linke's version titled 'Commode Louis XVI, réduction de commode Marie-Antoinette', is slightly reduced in scale and therefore not an exact replica, but more en hommage, to the famous pair in the Garde-Meuble national.
Index Number 904 was retailed by Linke at 5,500 francs and another example, with Wedgwood plaques to the sides rather than the gilt-bronze relief roundels to the present lot, sold Sotheby's, New York, 15 April 2011, lot 327 ($146,500).
François Linke (d. 1946) was one of the most celebrated ébénistes of his time. Born in Pankraz, Bohemia, Linke moved to Paris in 1875 and six years later established independent ateliers at 170, rue de Faubourg St. Antoine. As was the practice among contemporaries and noteworthy predecessors, such as Alfred Beurdeley and Henry Dasson, Linke initially produced furniture derived from styles popular during the 18th century ancien régime. By 1900, his worldwide reputation as an individualistic master of high quality furniture was already established. However, with a huge display, placing his extravagant pieces in room settings and winning the Médaille d'Or for his Grand Bureau, Linke's participation in the Paris 1900 exhibition was to be the pinnacle of his career, and prompted critics, such as Charles Dambreuse, to comment: 'L'Exposition de la maison Linke est le gros événement de l'histoire du meuble d'art en l'an de grâce 1900' (see C. Dambreuse, L'Art Industriel à l'Exposition de Meuble de Style - M. F. Linke, in Revue Artistique & Industrielle, Paris, July-August, 1900). Linke's international acclaim following the 1900 exhibition afforded him a high degree of financial stability, not only allowing him to establish a large showroom on the fashionable place Vendôme, but also to pursue new and further distant markets by exhibiting at other international shows. These included the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, where he was again awarded a gold medal, Liège in 1905 and the Franco-British exhibition in London in 1908.
Meeting the continued demand for French Royal Furniture but perhaps acknowledging that not everybody has rooms of suitably palatial proportions, Linke's version titled 'Commode Louis XVI, réduction de commode Marie-Antoinette', is slightly reduced in scale and therefore not an exact replica, but more en hommage, to the famous pair in the Garde-Meuble national.
Index Number 904 was retailed by Linke at 5,500 francs and another example, with Wedgwood plaques to the sides rather than the gilt-bronze relief roundels to the present lot, sold Sotheby's, New York, 15 April 2011, lot 327 ($146,500).
François Linke (d. 1946) was one of the most celebrated ébénistes of his time. Born in Pankraz, Bohemia, Linke moved to Paris in 1875 and six years later established independent ateliers at 170, rue de Faubourg St. Antoine. As was the practice among contemporaries and noteworthy predecessors, such as Alfred Beurdeley and Henry Dasson, Linke initially produced furniture derived from styles popular during the 18th century ancien régime. By 1900, his worldwide reputation as an individualistic master of high quality furniture was already established. However, with a huge display, placing his extravagant pieces in room settings and winning the Médaille d'Or for his Grand Bureau, Linke's participation in the Paris 1900 exhibition was to be the pinnacle of his career, and prompted critics, such as Charles Dambreuse, to comment: 'L'Exposition de la maison Linke est le gros événement de l'histoire du meuble d'art en l'an de grâce 1900' (see C. Dambreuse, L'Art Industriel à l'Exposition de Meuble de Style - M. F. Linke, in Revue Artistique & Industrielle, Paris, July-August, 1900). Linke's international acclaim following the 1900 exhibition afforded him a high degree of financial stability, not only allowing him to establish a large showroom on the fashionable place Vendôme, but also to pursue new and further distant markets by exhibiting at other international shows. These included the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, where he was again awarded a gold medal, Liège in 1905 and the Franco-British exhibition in London in 1908.