François Linke 1855 - 1946 A rare gilt-bronze mounted mahogany, satiné and kingwood circular marquetry guéridon Paris, circa 1900-1905, (rich variant of) index number 146

This table, seemingly an elaborate variation of Linke's Index Number 146, is interrestingly closely modelled on a table by J-E. Zwiener, see: Sotheby's New York "A Private Collection,Vol I", october 26, 2006, lot 11. Now that it has been established beyond reasonable doubt that Linke spent his formative years working with Zwiener in Paris in the late 1870s and that they both used the sculptor and designer Léon Messagé, it would seem appropriate that Linke, after Message's untimely death in 1901, would have adapted any model to expand his range of furniture for his growing international clientele.

Sadly, there is no glass negative or cliché for this rare and unusual table appart from a black and white photograph showing the table in Linke's stand at the 1905 Salon du Mobilier in Paris. It appears to be a far richer version of Linke's table number 146 than previously recorded. Index number 146 was available with either a marble top, usually fleur de pêcher, or a marquetry top as sold Sotheby's New York, October 26, 2006, lots 69 & 70. The latter two examples appear to have been made by Linke in circa 1890 for the luxury Parisian furniture maker, Krieger of 74, rue du Faubourg Saint- Antoine, only a few minutes walk away from Linke's workshops in the same busy road. However the Krieger examples have a simple circular top without the expensive and complicated four outset corners, and with a different and again far more complex stretcher. However it is the mounts of the present lot that set it apart from the recorded models. Linke has used his own novel design, althought closely related to a model by Zwiener/Messagé with its shell mounts fitting each corner along the frieze with a waterfall cascade flanking the chutes (re-used for example on the Paris 1900 exhibition chair index number 703). The use of the kneeling putti blowing a shell at the centre of the stretcher is a new device for Linke, albeit with the shell and waterfall, one he used successfully on several pieces of his own design. 

It is very difficult to date the present table accurately but it would appear to be a result of Linke's acclaim at the Paris 1900 exhibition which allowed him to expand his own range of furniture to sell directly to rich private clients rather than rely on trade buyers such as the aforementioned Krieger.

Footnote courtesy of Christopher Payne