THE ART-CASE BY FRANÇOIS LINKE, THE MOVEMENT BY ERARD, SERIAL NUMBER 81354, PARIS, CIRCA 1900

Details

A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY PIANO A QUEUE
THE ART-CASE BY FRANÇOIS LINKE, THE MOVEMENT BY ERARD, SERIAL NUMBER 81354, PARIS, CIRCA 1900
In the Louis XVI style, the hinged lid with acanthus ormolu border, each side of the case mounted with ribbon-tied garlands of wild flowers, the keyboard cover centered with a trio of musical putti amongst fruiting and flowering scrolls and signed Erard/Paris, on three tapering fluted legs terminating in pinecone finials, stamped with serial number 81354 to the underside and inside of the case, lyre and two of the legs, on casters
Closed: 39 ½ in. (100 cm.) high, 53 ¾ in. (136.5 cm.) wide, 75 ¼ in. (191 cm.) long
Open: 67 ¾ in. (172 cm.) high

Lot Essay

Produced at the height of François Linke's international fame and in the same year as his gold medal-winning stand at the Exposition Universelle in 1900, this sumptuously-decorated piano à queue is among eleven models produced by the revered Parisian ébéniste. The Erard archive entry for serial number 81354 notes a December 1900 order for a 'Piano à queue No. 0 Style Louis XVI, La décoration par M. Linke Ebéniste'. The recipient of the order, designated as 'M. Morin', points to two specific notations in the Linke Archive. As Christopher Payne notes, the first is instance lists the trade buyer Plassard Morin & Fillon, who, like Maison Jansen, Baguès and Damon/Krieger, were early suppliers of Linke's work and are initially noted in Linke's delivery book, titled Livraisons de Janvier 1888 à Janvier 1891 (C. Payne, François Linke: The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003, p. 232). A second notation for a Madame Morin appears in 1908, from whom Linke acquired master bronze models for his expanding inventory.

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