This elegant and beautifully-inlaid table not only encapsulated the harmonious collaboration between sculptor and ébéniste, Léon Messagé and François Linke, but provides an invaluable window into the meticulous and exacting cabinet practices so rigorously upheld by this master cabinetmaker.

Christopher Payne’s extensive research on Linke’s workshop practices reveal that the up to seven tables were produced with this distinctive marquetry pattern, though with seemingly varying table base designs. At least two tables of this exact design, supported by this delicate table base bearing all the hallmarks of Léon Messagé’s influence, were produced in tandem in 1903 and ultimately finished in 1905 by Linke’s skilled craftsmen (C. Payne, François Linke 1855-1946 The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003, pp. 408-409, pl. 462-464). A variant of this model, fitted with a Louis XV style base applied with espagnolette busts and Linke’s distinctive ‘crab-like acanthus’ mounts, was sold Bonham’s, Los Angeles, 11 September 2006, lot 320 ($150,250).

THE CARCASS AND MARQUETRY:
In the aforementioned sale, Payne indicates two carcasses for index number 1166, potentially including the present lot, were completed by Linke’s craftsman Jenicik on 23 November 1903, taking 613 hours for the pair. A single carcass took his bronze-fitter, Louvancour, over 242 hours to fit, owning to the exceptionally delicate design of the carcass and the subtle undulations of the frieze itself. As was customary in Paris’s Faubourg workshops, a specialist, who worked independently, cut the marquetry and in all seven recorded examples this work was by Labbé whose own workshop was near to Linke at 95 Faubourg St. Antoine. A letter survives in the Linke Archive from Labbé dated 13 February 1924 informing Linke that he has found the original patterns for the top made in 1903-05 and that the cost would be 1,130 francs, as opposed to 700 for two in 1910. The Arcadian marquetry top clearly proved to be an enduring design for Linke and a small number of the remaining tables were produced as late as 1938.

THE MOUNTS:
Considered sculpture unto themselves, the sumptuous mountings on the present table attest to Messagé's prowess in design and application, which was unrivaled at the time. It was though this partnership that Linke’s style was fully realized and triumphantly celebrated at his gold medal-winning stand at the 1900 Paris Exposition universelle. The origins of the ‘Linke Style’ stem to Messagé’s 1890 Cahier des Dessins et Croquis Style Louis XV, a compendium of thirty-six designs, ranging from furniture to silverware. The sides of the present table, each centered with a cartouche enclosing a hibiscus, are based up a charcoal sketch for a stretcher finial, illustrated in C. Payne, , François Linke 1855-1946 The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003, p. 78, p79. The same mount, presumably from table no. 1166, is also illustrated op. cit. p. 364.