François Linke 1855 - 1946 A Louis XVI style gilt bronze mounted mahogany table ambulante, Paris, early 20th century, index number 114, after the celebrated model by Adam Weisweiler made for Marie-Antoinette

surmounted by an inset fleur de pêcher marble top, and fitted with a frieze drawer, on four basket-bearing caryatid supports joined by a looped stretcher centered by a basket, signed F. Linke to the proper front right hand side legs, one mount has been removed to reveal the mark FL from the bronze master model

C. Payne, Francois Linke 1855-1946, The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Antique Collector's club, Woodbridge, 2003, pp. 125-126, for a discussion on index number 114; and pl. 137 and 139, for the black and white illustration of index number 114 mounted as a table vitrine with a slight variant to the stretcher

D. Alcouffe et al., Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Vol. I, p. 289-291.

The present lot is a variation on the celebrated dressing table made for Marie-Antoinette by Adam Weisweiler in 1784. It was placed in the cabinet intérieur at the Château de Saint-Cloud, after Marie-Antoinette had purchased it from the Duc d'Orléans in 1785. In 1865, Empress Eugénie purchased the table from the sale of the Prince de Beauvau's property, and brought it to the Tuileries Palace and placed it in her audience room, the salon bleu. Under Archive number 114, this is an early Linke model, first made in circa 1891.

This model of table was one that Linke was keen to show, in a variant form, in his display at the 1900 Paris World Fair among his art nouveau and Louis XV-inspired creations in collaboration with Léon Messagé. As is more common, in 1900, it was shown as a bijoutière, available with either solid or glazed sides.

This type of table fulfilled many functions throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, either for display or writing, and could either have remained stationary or been moved as needed. It could have been placed in the center of a room as well, and for this reason it is decorated elaborately on all four sides. It might have been used to display candelabra, flower-filled vases, centerpieces or clocks.

François Linke (1855-1946) was undoubtedly the most important Parisian ébéniste of his time. Having served an apprenticeship in his home town of Pankraz, Bohemia, Linke arrived in Paris in 1875 and set up independent workshops at 170, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine in 1881 and later also at 26, Place Vendôme. By the time of the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, Linke's worldwide reputation as a master of high individualism and inventiveness was already established and unmatched by his contemporaries.  His success at the 1900 exhibition afforded Linke a high degree of financial stability and allowed him to pursue new markets by exhibiting at subsequent international fairs. Like the inventories of contemporaries such as Beurdeley and Dasson, Linke's oeuvre included copies and adaptations of the distinct styles of eighteenth century important and royal French furniture. However, his most extravagant exhibition pieces combined the Louis XV style with the new Art Nouveau style. Linke's frequent collaborator for his designs was the celebrated sculptor Léon Messagé.  In 1904, he was made Officier de L’Instruction Publique, and in 1905 he was called to be a member of the Jury of the Liège exhibition.  Following his stands in the St- Louis (U.S.A.) exhibition in 1904 and the Liège exhibition in 1905, Linke was decorated with the highest distinction of France, the Croix de la Légion d’Honneur, on October 11, 1906.