Lot Essay
Another example of this model dressing-commode sold Sotheby's New York, 21 November 2002, lot 250 ($19,120).
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In his recent work on François Linke, Christopher Payne notes that the models for the dressing commodes (index no. 286) and beds (index no. 282) included in the following bedroom suite featured in Linke's repertoire as early as 1883, only two years after he set up business in Paris. In that year, an example of each was commissioned by Carlhian and Beaumetz, the renowned Parisian firm of decorators, for the newly built Fifth Avenue mansion of Arabella Huntington, wife of rail magnate Collis Huntington, and later one of the richest women in the world (see interior photograph above and C. Payne, François Linke, 1855-1946, The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003, pp. 230-1). In a footnote for another suite featuring some of the same models as here, Payne writes that the dressing-table (lot 122) and cheval mirror, or Psyché (lot 123), were listed as index numbers 283 and 284 respectively, presumably dating their conception also to the early 1880s (see Sotheby's New York, 30 October 2003, lot 212).
Reputedly acquired at an Estate sale in New York City between 1979 and 1981, it is quite probable that the present suite was also commissioned by Carlhian & Beaumetz for another of their many wealthy American clients. Interestingly, the first evidence of Clément Linke's collaboration with his brother in 1896, and the discontinuation of the dressing-commode model in 1897 (op. cit. Payne, 2003, pp. 358-9), combine to date the two examples here, and probably the remainder of the suite, to that two-year period.
A Louis XV style ormolu-mounted mahogany dressing-commode and mirror
BY FRANCOIS LINKE, INDEX NUMBER 286, PARIS, LATE 19TH CENTURY
Details
A Louis XV style ormolu-mounted mahogany dressing-commode and mirror
By Francois Linke, Index number 286, Paris, Late 19th Century
Of bombé form, the cartouche-shaped bevelled glazed swing-mirror within a conforming support, the serpentine-fronted brèche d'alep marble top above two short drawers and a pair of long drawers, the angles with foliate clasps, the lock stamped CT LINKE/SERRURERIE/PARIS and numbered 286
79 in. (200.7 cm.) high, overall; 55¾ in. (141.6 cm.) wide; 23¾ in. (60.4 cm.) deep
By Francois Linke, Index number 286, Paris, Late 19th Century
Of bombé form, the cartouche-shaped bevelled glazed swing-mirror within a conforming support, the serpentine-fronted brèche d'alep marble top above two short drawers and a pair of long drawers, the angles with foliate clasps, the lock stamped CT LINKE/SERRURERIE/PARIS and numbered 286
79 in. (200.7 cm.) high, overall; 55¾ in. (141.6 cm.) wide; 23¾ in. (60.4 cm.) deep