François Linke (1855-1946), Léon Messagé (1842-1901)

gilt bronze 

signed 'F. Linke'

Please note that this piece is currently located in Hong Kong

With Lécoules, Paris, 1985.

C. Payne, François Linke, The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003, p.90, pl.97 (the drawing of the design)

P. Lécoules, Art Mobilier Parisien 1850-1900, Paris, 1985, p.112

This playful and vivacious inkwell is a glorious example of the charm and inventiveness of gilt bronze luxury items during the Belle Epoque. Inkwells were a ubiquitous item present on every desk at the time, with pre-fountain pen writing methods requiring the pen to be repeatedly dipped into an ink pot and the ink on the paper then dried with a pinch of sand called ‘pounce’. Ink stands could often be plain and functional, but could also be made from precious decorative materials like silver or porcelain, and even become little objets d’art of their own like the present example.

By framing the central figural group of putti within natural surroundings of various intermingling textures, this inkstand gives a strong sculptural impression. Unlike many inkstands of the time, the inkwells are integrated so smoothly into the overall design that they are not the primary focus of the object, and seem to be subordinate to the splendid gilt bronze of the whole. It is not a surprise, therefore, to learn that this design was adapted from a larger sculpture known as La Source (The Spring).

The design by François Linke survives to this day and is held in the Linke Archives: in his in-depth study on Linke, Christopher Payne argues that this light drawing was likely used as a guideline for the sculptor Léon Messagé and not for publication.

This inkwell was part of the group of dazzling furniture that Linke brought to the 1900 Paris Exhibition, and as such is often called the encrier exposition. Linke’s workshops worked intensely to prepare these ambitious pieces, but still ended up running behind schedule, meaning that this inkwell was not delivered until the final few weeks of the exhibition. It was a popular model, though, as can be seen by the fact that he created six more and sold the later ones for considerably more than the original one at the Paris Exhibition. He would later include it on his stand in the Liège International Exposition in 1905.

With this inkwell, we see Linke displaying his artistic talent for taking the decorative vocabulary of the mid-eighteenth century but making it new and original. The curved shapes, the textural use of water and leaves, and the feeling of levity are all straight from the mid-eighteenth century, as is the use of gilt bronze with finely differentiated finishes to the surface. However, inkwells in the eighteenth century were generally in lacquer or wood with separate inkwells; the idea of the inkwell as a miniature sculpture was a later innovation.

François Linke (1855-1946) was the foremost furnituremaker of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, blending an originality of design with a remarkably high quality of craftsmanship across all of his pieces. His era, often called the Belle Epoque, was one that had experienced rapid social and economic change, and perhaps because of this, was highly enamoured of the furniture and art produced during the elegant century before the seismic shift of the French Revolution in 1789. Linke, like numerous other luxury furniture makers of the Belle Epoque, shrewdly met this demand by creating wonderfully fine pieces that were clearly in historical styles, but were creative with these conventions to make pieces that were often more fresh and exciting than antiques pieces themselves. Linke was born Bohemia and travelled across Central Europe before moving to Paris in 1875, where his workshops were documented as early as 1881; he supplied to many of the top clients and patrons of the day, and he was awarded with a gold medal in recognition of his ambitious stand of exceptional pieces of furniture at the Paris Exhibition in 1900.