Belle Époque Cupboards

A unique late 19th century gilt bronze mounted parquetry cabinet by François Linke and Léon Messagé François Linke and Léon Messagé This unusual cabinet features a cube parquetry top with a back splash centered with a plume of bronze feathers and flowers, above a long single drawer with a bronze leaf-clasped scallop shell and two handles shaped as wings, the sides headed by foliate and flower-cast clasps. The cabinet was most likely made to store magazines or original phonograph records. Stamped FL under many of the bronze mounts, the lock stamped CT LINKE/PARIS Linke was born in Pankraz in Bohemia and was celebrated by the French as one of the greatest ébénistes of meubles de style at the turn of the century. He began his apprenticeship with a Bohemian master at the age of thirteen. Four years later, he toured Austria, settling and working in Vienna for two years. Linke arrived in Paris 1875, and by 1881 he had established his own small workshop at 170 rue du Faubourg St. Antoine. Taking 18th century styles as his starting point and adapting earlier styles to contemporary taste, Linke produced fine quality furniture, steadily expanding his business during the next 20 years. He firmly established his reputation after receiving a gold medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900 for his extraordinary Grand Bureau. He continued to use international fairs as a means of exploring new markets, exhibiting at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, the Liege in Belgium and the 1908 Franco-British exhibition in London. Linke’s highly original designs sprang from the Régence and Rococo styles but were imbued with something quite new, Rococo curves were laden with gilt-bronze sculptural mounts in the tradition of A.-C. Boulle (1642-1732) or Charles Cressent (1685-1758). Stylistically, the new designs still adhered to the Rococo; the novelty, however, was Linke’s fusion of the Rococo with the liveliness and the fluidity of the ‘art nouveau’. The Revue called Linke’s creations entierement nouveau, and continued to say that ‘Linke’s stand...

From the American Golden Age, a very fine Belle Époque Sideboard or Buffet Cabinet in exquisite West Indies mahogany. New York City, circa 1880. Base features bowed center cabinet do...

Cabinet, France, ca. 1880. Very good condition. Wood: walnut Dimensions: height 200 cm width 100 cm depth 47 cm

A Late 19th Century Louis XVI Style Gilt Bronze Mounted Mahogany Cabinet By François Linke François Linke – Index no. 1108 Surmounted with a Brèche d’ Alep marble top, above a frie...

Gervais Durand was an exceptional furniture maker of the later 19th century, known especially for his reproductions of 18th Century works, but also responsible for some strikingly or...

A Rare and Palatial Late 19th Century Gilt Bronze Mounted Louis XVI Style Marquetry and Parquetry Cabinet A heavy marble top above a bronze frieze with three paneled doors decorated with inlaid floral marquetry designs. The center door with gilt bronze bearded men faces, the bottom is centered by a mask of a beautiful woman with two lion paws on her sides and a pair of floral cornucopia above her. The sides of the cabinet are quartered veneered, standing on six spiral bronze...

Late 19th Century Gilt Bronze Mounted Louis XVI Style Chinoiserie Cabinet Marble top above a floral bronze mounted drawer, a single door with a coramandel landscape scene of people...

A Fantastic Quality Late 19th Century Louis XV Style Gilt Bronze Mounted Vernis Martin Cabinet By Paul Sormani Paul Sormani The upper tier of t...

An Interesting Late 19th Century Gilt Bronze Mounted Transitional Style Chinoiserie Cabinet by L. Bontemps L. Bontemps The rectangular breakfront pink quartz top above three high d...

A very fine late 19th century gilt bronze-mounted Louis XV style Vernis Martin cabinet. By Joseph Zwiener. The central section finely decorated door panel displaying an allegorical 'Vernis Martin' scene, within a gilt bronze banded frame. With finely cast acanthus and figurative gilt bronze mounts. Stamped ‘NZ’ for Zwiener on the back of the escutcheons and reverse of the bronze mask to the base. Born in Herdon, Germany, in 1849, Joseph Emmanuel Zwiener followed the tradition of some of the best ébnistes of the 19th century. He moved to Paris establishing a workshop at 12, rue de la Roquette, between 1880 and 1895. He produced a wide array of the very finest furniture, modelling in his own interpretations of the 18th century Louis XV Rococo style, veneered with the highest and finest quality marquetry and 'Vernis Martin' panels. Exhibiting at the Exposition Universelle, Paris, in 1889, Zwiener was awarded a Gold Medal for what the jury reported as 'dè ses dèbuts à une Exposition Universelle, [il] s'est mi au premier rang par la richesse, la hardinesse, et le fini de ses meubles incrustés de bronze et fort habilment marquetés.' Zwiener was closely associated with François Linke and the two houses produced work which, at first glance, is remarkably similar and with occasionally identical mounts. The similarities are made more likely by the fact that the brilliant sculptor, Léon Messagé, worked initially for Zwiener and subsequently, upon Zwiener's departure for Berlin to work on furniture commissioned by Freidrich Wilhelm II, he was employed in the workshop of François Linke. It appears that Zwiener, unlike Linke, did not sign all his work, although some stamped pieces with his name and/or his "Z" initial are documented. There is some uncertainty between the recorded stamp E. Zwiener and the work of a Julius Zwiener...

A Very Fine Pair of Late 19th Century Gilt Bronze and Sèvres Style Porcelain Mounted Kingwood Cabinets Gillows of Lancaster and London The upper section with a pair of doors with Sèvres style porcelain plaques painted with a flower filled urn, the lower section with a frieze drawer with floral decorated plaques, raised by four legs joined by a “X” stretcher. Stamped on the wood drawer Gillow. Robert Gillow established his company around 1730. It was widely considered one of the most important British cabinet making firms. Trading first...

A wonderful late 19th century Napoleon III gilt bronze mounted carved ebonized cabinet. By J.B.A. Lanneau. Top drawer surmounted by a black portor marble-top, large single door with floral bronze designs, centered by a carved shield. Gilt bronze lion paw feet. Stamped Lanneau to the carcass. The firm was founded by Lanneau Pere circa 1855-1880 at 9, rue Saint-Ambroise. They exhibited at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867 and Vienna World Exposition...

A Gründerzeit cupboard in pine with double-door upper cabinet flanked by open side shelves with paneled back-splash and resting on pillars, above base consisting of cabinet with two ...

Art Nouveau vitrine cupboard in lacquered and gilded mahogany with all accosted glazed glass. Legs a hand-carved, lacquered mahogany columns; edgings in gold leaf gilded relief...

A Very Fine Late 19th Century Louis XVI Style Gilt Bronze Mounted Vitrine Bronze gallery above a centered glass door, flanked by glass panels on top of a single, spring released dra...

A Wonderful Late 19th Century Louis XVI Style Gilt Bronze Mounted Marquetry and Parquetry Cabinet by Maison Forest, Paris Maison Forest The breche violette marble top above a cente...

Late 19th Century Gilt Bronze Mounted Louis XVI Style Inlaid Marquetry and Parquetry Cabinet By Theodore Millet By Theodore Millet The large marble t...

An Excellent Quality Late 19th Century Louis XVI Style Gilt Bronze and Wedgwood Mounted Parquetry Vitrine The breakfront marble top above a scrolle...

A fine late 19th century gilt bronze mounted Transitional style Marquetry cabinet By Durand The marble top above two long inlaid floral doors which o...

A Beautiful Late 19th Century Gilt Bronze Mounted Louis XVI Style Coramandel Lacquer Cabinet By Maison Forest By Maison Forest A fine marble top above a single bronze mounted drawe...