A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, SATINE AND PLUM-PUDDING MAHOGANY VITRINE

The present vitrine belongs to a series of cabinets produced by the celebrated ébéniste François Linke as well the lesser-known firm of Hugnet, illustrated in C. Payne, Paris Furniture: The Luxury Market of the 19th Century, 2018, p. 390). A nearly identical vitrine cabinet with a similar differentiation to the tone of the veneers closely resembling the present lot and attributed to François Linke was sold at Bonham’s, London, 16 October 2019, lot 44. A further example signed by Linke was sold at Bonham’s, New York, 24 January 2013, and another sold in Chateau: A Distinguished American Collection, Christie’s, London, 27 October 2014, lot 4.
Each cabinet is similarly mounted with Erato, the Muse of Poetry, a distinctive bas-relief embellishment that was exhibited by Christofle at the 1878 Paris Exhibition Universelle. Such popular designs and patterns by pre-eminent bronziers of the period were widely available to various cabinetmakers of the last quarter of the 19th century, including Linke who founded his own atelier in the early 1880s.