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Lot Essay
FRANÇOIS LINKE: ‘MODÈLE TÊTE DE LION’
Laurel-festooned in celebration of 'abundance through labor' and hung with lion-pelts recalling Hercules's labors , there is perhaps no greater admired nor more frequently imitated master work of French furniture than Jean-François Oeben's and Jean-Henri Riesener's celebrated Bureau du Roi. The inspiration for this pair of pedestals was the richly-mounted bureau commissioned by Louis XV from Oeben (maître 1759) in 1760 and ultimately completed by Riesener (maître 1768) in 1769. The bureau survived devastation at Saint-Cloud in 1870 and was subsequently moved to the Louvre. Under instructions from the fourth Marquess of Hertford, it is believed that the first 19th century reproduction of the bureau was completed between 1853 and 1870 by Carl Dreschler and Charles Crozatier.
Linke’s first example of the Bureau du Roi, index number 710, was completed in 1902 and in all he made four. Linke subsequently applied much of the ornament and mounts from his version of the Bureau du Roi to create other pieces of furniture. Thus in addition to this pair of pedestals ‘inspired by the Bureau du Roi’ Linke completed a monumental bibliothèque, a bergère, a piano and commodes - all with distinctive lion-pelt corner mounts (C. Payne, François Linke: The Belle Époque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003, pp 218-226).
Furthermore, the present pedestals relate closely to a variant design (Index No. 894), fitted with a circular marble top, shown circa 1900 in Linke’s Place Vendôme showroom (op. cit. p. 160, in background) and subsequently at the Salon des Industries du Moblier in 1902 and the Liège exhibition of 1905 (op. cit. p. 182). Among Linke’s clients for the celebrated and popular design was Elias Meyer of 16 Grosvenor Square, London, and the King of Egypt for whom Linke made the last pair in 1923. A further example of the model was offered in The Collection of the Late Emil Winter, Parke-Bernet, New York, 15-17 January 1942, lot 382.
Laurel-festooned in celebration of 'abundance through labor' and hung with lion-pelts recalling Hercules's labors , there is perhaps no greater admired nor more frequently imitated master work of French furniture than Jean-François Oeben's and Jean-Henri Riesener's celebrated Bureau du Roi. The inspiration for this pair of pedestals was the richly-mounted bureau commissioned by Louis XV from Oeben (maître 1759) in 1760 and ultimately completed by Riesener (maître 1768) in 1769. The bureau survived devastation at Saint-Cloud in 1870 and was subsequently moved to the Louvre. Under instructions from the fourth Marquess of Hertford, it is believed that the first 19th century reproduction of the bureau was completed between 1853 and 1870 by Carl Dreschler and Charles Crozatier.
Linke’s first example of the Bureau du Roi, index number 710, was completed in 1902 and in all he made four. Linke subsequently applied much of the ornament and mounts from his version of the Bureau du Roi to create other pieces of furniture. Thus in addition to this pair of pedestals ‘inspired by the Bureau du Roi’ Linke completed a monumental bibliothèque, a bergère, a piano and commodes - all with distinctive lion-pelt corner mounts (C. Payne, François Linke: The Belle Époque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003, pp 218-226).
Furthermore, the present pedestals relate closely to a variant design (Index No. 894), fitted with a circular marble top, shown circa 1900 in Linke’s Place Vendôme showroom (op. cit. p. 160, in background) and subsequently at the Salon des Industries du Moblier in 1902 and the Liège exhibition of 1905 (op. cit. p. 182). Among Linke’s clients for the celebrated and popular design was Elias Meyer of 16 Grosvenor Square, London, and the King of Egypt for whom Linke made the last pair in 1923. A further example of the model was offered in The Collection of the Late Emil Winter, Parke-Bernet, New York, 15-17 January 1942, lot 382.