Lot Essay
This bed relates to a design by Linke for the King of Egypt, Fuad I. The Louis XVI bedroom was ordered for Ras al-Tin, one of the two main Royal residences, by the Paris Consulate in 1931. In this room the later, more somber and masculine Louis XVI style was used rather than the Louis XV employed for the Queen's room.
According to the registres Linke made over 1,200 items in a wide variety of styles including George III, Gothic and Oriental, all made in his own workshops. Linke himself made an exploratory trip to Egypt in 1926, at the venerable age of seventy. In Egypt Linke was resurrecting the kind of lifestyle that had all but died in post World War I Europe. With the birth of the new Kingdom of Egypt followed by the birth of a son, Fuad I undertook a renovation of the Royal Residences not seen since Versailles and the Sun King.
The former Royal Palaces in Cairo and Alexandria still contain an important collection of furniture by Linke and is complemented by Napoleon III era micro-mosaics and Boulle furniture from Germany, France and England. Some of the Linke furniture may now have been moved to the presidential palaces in Cairo and on the coast at Alexandria.
According to the registres Linke made over 1,200 items in a wide variety of styles including George III, Gothic and Oriental, all made in his own workshops. Linke himself made an exploratory trip to Egypt in 1926, at the venerable age of seventy. In Egypt Linke was resurrecting the kind of lifestyle that had all but died in post World War I Europe. With the birth of the new Kingdom of Egypt followed by the birth of a son, Fuad I undertook a renovation of the Royal Residences not seen since Versailles and the Sun King.
The former Royal Palaces in Cairo and Alexandria still contain an important collection of furniture by Linke and is complemented by Napoleon III era micro-mosaics and Boulle furniture from Germany, France and England. Some of the Linke furniture may now have been moved to the presidential palaces in Cairo and on the coast at Alexandria.