BY FRANÇOIS LINKE, THE MOUNTS DESIGNED LÉON MESSAGÉ, INDEX NUMBER 930, PARIS, LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY

This exquisite writing table finished with scrolling bois de bout marquetry is closely related to Francois Linke’s index number 965, a larger example measuring 175 cm. wide and described as modèle riche namely for the addition of an elaborate stretcher seated with banner-bearing cherubs (see Christie’s, New York, 18 November 2014, lot 249). As on table number 965, the luxurious mountings here are the unmistakable genius of Linke’s frequent collaborator, Léon Messagé. Laden with cascading waves, seaweed swags, coquilles and androgynous busts, the present table draws from a well of inspiration within Linke's own extensive oeuvre, mainly from the cabinetmaker’s celebrated commode coquille: Coquetterie et Modestie (index number 559) for his award-winning stand at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris (C. Payne, François Linke: The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003, p. 170). The design was popular among Linke’s impressive register of clientele, which included commissions supplied to Elias Meyer in 1909, Madame d’Astoreca in 1910, Antonio Devoto in 1913 and for the King Fuad I's study at Ras al-Tin, Alexandria, Egypt in the 1920s.
The number of tables produced of this scale remains unknown, though its rarity is assured as only other table of this design has since come to the market. The other, sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 15 October 2015, lot 161, was linked to a special commission for Ethel Pissis, an American divorcé from San Francisco who married François Linke’s second son Charles in March 1931.