A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, SATINÉ AND BOIS DE BOUT MARQUETRY PIANO À QUEUE
A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, SATINÉ AND BOIS DE BOUT MARQUETRY PIANO À QUEUE
A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, SATINÉ AND BOIS DE BOUT MARQUETRY PIANO À QUEUE
A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, SATINÉ AND BOIS DE BOUT MARQUETRY PIANO À QUEUE
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A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, SATINÉ AND BOIS DE BOUT MARQUETRY PIANO À QUEUE

ATTRIBUTED TO FRANÇOIS LINKE, THE MOVEMENT BY ERARD, SERIAL NO. 82141, PARIS, CIRCA 1901

Details
A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, SATINÉ AND BOIS DE BOUT MARQUETRY PIANO À QUEUE
ATTRIBUTED TO FRANÇOIS LINKE, THE MOVEMENT BY ERARD, SERIAL NO. 82141, PARIS, CIRCA 1901
In the Louis XV style, the hinged lid quarter-veneered and inlaid with a foliate border, the serpentine-shaped case centered on each side with a cartouche enclosing a floral spray, the keyboard cover similarly decorated and signed Erard/Paris, on six cabriole legs headed by trailing foliage and tapering to hairy paw sabots, stamped with serial number 82141 to the case and lyre, the movement inscribed Par Brevet d'Invention Seb & Pre Erard 13&21 rue du Mail Paris, on casters
Closed: 40 ¾ in. (103.5 cm.) high, 54 ½ in. (138.5 cm.) wide, 86 5/8 (220 cm.) long
Open: 71 ¼ in. (181 cm.) high

Lot Essay

This simple, though elegantly-decorated, piano à queue is in the distinctive fin de siècle style of high-rococo which became synonymous with François Linke’s oeuvre from 1900 through the end of his career.  Linke most often fitted instruments with Erard movements, for which the ébéniste was charged 3,000 francs. The present example appears in the company ledger in December 1901 as a ‘Piano à Queue N°1, style Louis XV en marqueterie de bois satiné et violette orné de bronzes ciselés dorés’.  Most interestingly, the piano was shipped to London to Mrs. S. and P.  Erard, either for the piano-maker’s private residence or the company’s showroom.  A piano by Linke, possibly the present lot, is illustrated in C. Payne, European Furniture of the 19th Century, Woodbridge, 2013, p. 142.  Another piano, serial number 77612, was completed for a for Madame Tevenin of 23 rue de Lubeck, Paris on 11 October 1898 and was described as ‘Demi-queue-longeur: 2,12m - Style Louis XV - model No 1 avec marqueterie de bois satin et de violette, orné de bronzes ciselés dorés (sold Christie’s, London, 28 October 1999, lot 182, £56,500).

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