.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Linke title: Chaise longue bois sculpte et dore
There are seventy glass negatives of chair frames in the Linke Archive and the frame for the present lot is amongst them as part of suite, Linke index number 2580 ordered by the Italian born Don Antonio Devoto and his wife Elina of Buenos Aires in circa 1911. The Devotos were active patrons of Linke at this time and were intending to make their house the 'Palacio Devoto' in the Calle San Martin, not far from the Presidential palace, into a museum dedicated to Linke's work. Numerous invoices to the Devotos survive and one alone, in September 1920 was for 1,000,000 francs. Clearly they built up a good business relationship with Linke and almost certainly close personal ties. Linke is seen in a group photograph taken in 1911 at the Rome studio of Arnaldo Zocchi in front of a massive Carrara marble statue of Columbus placed opposite the Presidential palace in Buenos Aires in 1921.
The suite was also delivered to the Paris residence at 32 Avenue Foch for the Bolivian tin magnate, Simon Iturri Patino in September 1913. Such was the tolerance of the Devotos, or the insistence of Patinio that the suite ordered for Devoto was sold to Patino and another suite made to satisfy the Devoto order. That said, the Devoto order was substantial and included fitted wall panelling and may well have been awaiting shipment. It is thought that the Devotos had seen the quality of Linke's work at the Compagnie National Meubles who held a small amount stock of Linke furniture in Buenos Aires - a stock certainly had been seen by the Devotos who subsequently visited Linke on their own account when in Paris. An open armchair from this suite was exhibited by Linke on his stand at the Salon du Mobilier, in Paris in 1911. It is not possible to state if the present lot was the Devoto example or the one delivered to the Patinos in Paris. However, it does not appear that Linke ever made the model again either to a specific commission or for stock. One Devoto invoice dated 14 October 1921 may be for the model in the Cornwall Collection despite having been drafted nine years after the initial order. Antonio Devoto died in 1916 but his widow continued to order furniture and fittings from Linke to complete the house. An undated letter from Linke's son Charles, on active service during the First World War states '....you can't believe how surprised I was to learn of the death of Mr. Devoto. Lets hope that it will not have an adverse effect to finish this very good order. Possibly it will be more quickly finished now that Mrs. Devoto is now has her hands untied knowing that before that she was obliged to ask Mr. Devoto for the down payments'.
It is extraordinary that the Linke records are so precise that they show that the present lot was either made by the sculptors Guérin or by Langlois, both in-house wood carvers working for Linke.
Footnote courtesy of Christopher Payne.
There are seventy glass negatives of chair frames in the Linke Archive and the frame for the present lot is amongst them as part of suite, Linke index number 2580 ordered by the Italian born Don Antonio Devoto and his wife Elina of Buenos Aires in circa 1911. The Devotos were active patrons of Linke at this time and were intending to make their house the 'Palacio Devoto' in the Calle San Martin, not far from the Presidential palace, into a museum dedicated to Linke's work. Numerous invoices to the Devotos survive and one alone, in September 1920 was for 1,000,000 francs. Clearly they built up a good business relationship with Linke and almost certainly close personal ties. Linke is seen in a group photograph taken in 1911 at the Rome studio of Arnaldo Zocchi in front of a massive Carrara marble statue of Columbus placed opposite the Presidential palace in Buenos Aires in 1921.
The suite was also delivered to the Paris residence at 32 Avenue Foch for the Bolivian tin magnate, Simon Iturri Patino in September 1913. Such was the tolerance of the Devotos, or the insistence of Patinio that the suite ordered for Devoto was sold to Patino and another suite made to satisfy the Devoto order. That said, the Devoto order was substantial and included fitted wall panelling and may well have been awaiting shipment. It is thought that the Devotos had seen the quality of Linke's work at the Compagnie National Meubles who held a small amount stock of Linke furniture in Buenos Aires - a stock certainly had been seen by the Devotos who subsequently visited Linke on their own account when in Paris. An open armchair from this suite was exhibited by Linke on his stand at the Salon du Mobilier, in Paris in 1911. It is not possible to state if the present lot was the Devoto example or the one delivered to the Patinos in Paris. However, it does not appear that Linke ever made the model again either to a specific commission or for stock. One Devoto invoice dated 14 October 1921 may be for the model in the Cornwall Collection despite having been drafted nine years after the initial order. Antonio Devoto died in 1916 but his widow continued to order furniture and fittings from Linke to complete the house. An undated letter from Linke's son Charles, on active service during the First World War states '....you can't believe how surprised I was to learn of the death of Mr. Devoto. Lets hope that it will not have an adverse effect to finish this very good order. Possibly it will be more quickly finished now that Mrs. Devoto is now has her hands untied knowing that before that she was obliged to ask Mr. Devoto for the down payments'.
It is extraordinary that the Linke records are so precise that they show that the present lot was either made by the sculptors Guérin or by Langlois, both in-house wood carvers working for Linke.
Footnote courtesy of Christopher Payne.