BY FRANÇOIS LINKE, THE DESIGN BY LÉON MESSAGÉ, CIRCA 1900

The present pair of candelabra is a fine example of the collaboration between Linke and the sculptor, Léon Messagé. Examples of this model are known to have been exhibited in Liège in 1905 (see the photograph of Linke's booth above) and supplied for the Salon of the Meyer Mansion, Grosvenor Square, London. Little is known of Messagé, whose catalogue of designs for furniture, bronzes dorés and silver was published in 1890 from his address at 40, rue Sedaine, Paris. Messagé interpreted the Louis XV style of the mid-18th century in a vigorous manner and, as the magazine Art et Curiosité recorded in 1904, "ses projets nés sous le crayon se formèrent d'un jet plus rapide en la noble matière du bronze, ciselé d'une main sûre..." (October 1904, p. 166). Despite rarely adding his signature to a piece finished by Linke, records show that Messagé in fact designed the mounts for all of the important pieces in the latter's booth at the 1900 exhibition.

A pair of this model candelabra were sold Sotheby's London, 2 October 1998, lot 279 (£28,750).