Vitrines

Louis XV-style vitrine crafted of veneered rosewood, amaranth and satinwood. Elegantly set upon cabriole legs, the showcase is distinguished by a luxurious marquetry decoration featu...

It is difficult to sufficiently describe the quality and workmanship of this vitrine; the photos show more than any words can relate. The mounts are to the standard of the great Linke and may prove to be from his own workshop. Those which flank the door are busts of children...

Italian Louis XV style chinoiserie and gilt decorated display cabinet with a concave glass door, circa 1900. The decoration on the lower rig...

Petite French cabinet in the style of Louis XV Rococo. Bois-Satiné veneer, all-round surface-covering mirror veneer on solid conifers. High-rise...

An antique French Louis XVI style lift top table vitrine offers oval form with display having glass lift top with satinwood frame having ebonized banding throughout, raised on straight and tapered legs with lower red velvet display...

Satin wood veneer on solid pinewood. (O-Sam-193).  

Elegant French display table, the wood is in blond mahogany marquetry. The feet and the sides are decorated with bronze ornaments, end of the 19th...

French neoclassical style gilt bronze mounted ebonized wood display cabinet French, late 19th century Measures: Height 164cm, width 122cm, depth 40cm This fine display cabinet, attr...

Petite French vitrine in the style of Louis XV Rococo Piano black polished veneer on solid beech. High-rise, one-armed, cambered body, three-sided to three-section, on high slanting...

Bois-Satiné veneer, all-round surface-covering mirror veneer on solid conifers. High-rise, one-armed, cambered body, three-sided to three-section, on high slanting, curly feet. Profi...

Exceptional quality vitrine cabinet which works well as a display, having glass sides and a curved glass front panel which domes upward at the center. It has a mirrored back and mir...

Louis XVI style satinwood vitrine with neoclassical ormolu mounts French, 19th century Dimensions: Height 180cm, width 177cm, depth 45cm This ...

This elegant 19th century French vitrine is designed in the manner of Louis XV, with flowing decorative ormolu trim that accents the highly polished veneer. A framed beveled glass li...

Exceptional display cabinet with center opening door to fitted interior with three glass shelves that are moveable. It has a mirror back and mirror on the bottom. Two doors open on ...

French 18th century Louis XV Transition period cube marquetry vitrine showcase or library A fine small 18th century Louis XV/Transitional period vitr...

This is a superb antique French Vernis Martin mahogany vitrine, in the Louis XV manner, circa 1880 in date, with exquisite hand-painted decoration and exquisite ormolu mounts. The t...

19th century Louis XV style curio display table, mahogany with bronze mounts French Louis XV style elegant mahogany and bronze decorated display...

Presenting a beautiful and elegant 19th century French Boudoir vitrine in the style of Louis XV. From circa 1890 and made in France. This is a tall legged vitrine and has beaut...

19th century French mahogany and gilt bronze-mounted viewing vitrine signed G . Durand.

A fine late 19th century Napoleon III glazed cabinet on chest, the shaped grey marble top above a curved frieze and mounted with fine gilt bronze mounts. The vitrine with a full widt...

An important and extremely rare Louis XV style gilt bronze mounted bombe vitrine, firmly attributed to Maison Krieger. The back of the mounts on the four cornice corners and the floral swags cast with the monogram LM possibly for Leon Message; an old, possibly original label on the back with ink inscription: '1181 (?), galbee vitrine, Lxv, bois Violette..101'. This exceptional vitrine has a spreading pediment centred by a finely cast gilt bronze stylized acanthus, ‘C’-scroll and foliate cresting, above a glazed bombé central door and concave sides. The silk lined interior is fitted with adjustable shelves and the angles headed by superb gilt bronze figural espagnolettes with uplifted heads, plumes and ruffs. The lower galbée shaped section of the vitrine is mounted with foliate garlands and raised on cabriole legs with acanthus clasps and feet. An almost identical vitrine of the same proportions, construction and design, stamped to the lockplate ‘Mon Krieger...

A rare pair of giltwood domed top display cabinets. English, circa 1900. Each cabinet has a domed top comprising of four glazed sections divided by mouldings. The glazed sides ...

A fine French 19th-20th century kingwood and tulipwood marquetry and gilt-bronze mounted vitrine, in the manner of François Linke (1855-1946). The slender single door display cabinet with a red-velvet backing and bowed glass panels surmounted with acanthus and floral gilt-bronze mounts in the style of Léon Messagé (French, 1842-1901), the serpentine shaped front door with an ornate marquetry and ink colored panel depicting wreaths, ribbons and tied acantus leaves, all raised on four cabriolet legs ending with gilt-bronze paw-feet, Paris, circa 1900. Linke was born on 17 June 1855 in the small village of Pankraz, in what is now the Czech Republic. Records show that Linke served an apprenticeship with the master cabinet maker, Neumann, which he completed in 1877. Linke’s work book or Arbeits-Buch records that he was in Vienna from July 1872 to October 1873 at the time of the International Exhibition held there in 1873. He subsequently travelled to Prague, Budapest & Weimar before finally arriving in Paris in 1875. It is documented that he obtained employment with an unknown German cabinetmaker in Paris, and stylistic similarities, photographs and geographical proximity have led some to suggest that Emmanuel Zwiener was the most likely candidate. After a period back in his home town of Pankratz, he returned once and for all to Paris in 1877. In 1878 Paris hosted the third great International Exhibition, a remarkable success for a country ravaged by war only seven years earlier. It is known that the fledgling Linke workshops were active in the Faubourg St. Antoine as early as 1881, during this time he supplied furniture for other more established makers such as Jansen and Krieger. By 1889 another World’s Fair, as they were often referred to in America, took place in Paris. Monsieur Eiffel erected what has become the most iconic building in Paris for the exhibition and the atmosphere of wealth and confidence may well have encouraged Linke to think that he could contribute an important part to the next great exhibition. As early as 1892 this was decreed to take place at the end of the century, in an attempt to pre-empt Berlin from staging the last great show of the century. In 1892, Victor Champier (fr) one of the commissioners for the 1900 Paris Fair had appealed, “Create in the manner of the masters, do not copy what they have made”. It was an appeal against mere reproduction and Linke rose to this challenge in an unparalleled way with his unique display that was to include the Grand Bureau. Determined to outshine the competition at the Exhibition, Linke had set about creating the most ambitious pieces he could envisage, and more extravagant than had ever been displayed before. The items he exhibited marked a transition from the historicist interpretation of Louis XV and Louis XVI styles, an interpretation that was the mainstay of his nearest rivals, to something startlingly new and vital in its immediacy. [6] Together with Léon Messagé he developed a new style for the 1900 Exhibition that paid homage to the Louis XV rococo in the fluidity of its approach, but an approach fused with the lively flowing lines of the contemporary and progressive 'art nouveau'. The Art Journal reported in 1900 on Linke's stand: "The work of M. Linke ... was an example of what can be done by seeking inspiration amongst the classic examples of Louis XV and XVI without in any great sense copying these great works. M. Linke's work was original in the true sense of the word, and as such commended itself to the intelligent seeker after the really artistic things of the Exhibition. Wonderful talent was employed in producing the magnificent pieces of furniture displayed". Linke's stand would have appeared refreshingly new to contemporary onlookers, the traditional designs of the eighteenth century melting seamlessly into an exuberant naturalism. The 'Revue' described Linke's style as 'entièrement nouveaux' and noted "This opinion is universally accepted. Linke's stand is the biggest show in the history of art furniture in the year 1900". It is perhaps the most extraordinary and remarkable aspect of Linke’s personal history that he produced such expensive and luxurious furniture of exquisite quality for the 1900 exhibition without any commission or any potential buyer in mind. [9] At a time when other more established furniture businesses such as those of Beurdeley and Dasson were closing down, he made a huge investment in his stand and the furniture he supplied for it. Linke recognised that to move his business forward he needed to appeal to a more International clientele and the new emerging rich who were at this time amassing fortunes on an unprecedented scale. For this reason he gambled everything he had on his display for the 1900 exhibition. Had this not succeeded he would almost certainly have succumbed to bankruptcy. Linke’s notebook records visitors to his stand from England, Europe, the Americas, Egypt and Japan and including; the King of Sweden, three visits from the King of Belgium, Prince Radziwill, the Prince d’Arenberg, the Comte Alberic du Chastel, Miss Anna May Gould, the American heiress, distinguished furniture makers and the President of France Emile Loubet. This risky endeavour was a resounding success, and with his reputation established, La Maison Linke became the pre-eminent furniture house until outset of the Second World War. The technical brilliance of his work and the artistic change that it represented was never to be repeated. His showrooms expanded into prestigious premises in Paris, in the Place Vendôme as well as the Faubourg St. Antoine where his workshop had been established. He embarked on many important commissions in the years up to the outbreak of the First World War, making and designing furniture for leading international industrialists and bankers. After the 1914-1918 World War, Linke undertook the extraordinary commission to furnish the Ras al-Tin Palace in Alexandria for King Fuad of Egypt, possibly the largest single furniture commission ever conceived, eclipsing even Versailles. Linke flourished and remained active until the middle years of the 1930s and died in 1946 Léon Messagé (1842-1901) was a French sculptor, best known for his sculptural collaboration with François Linke for the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. Messagé was also responsible for much of the design and creative work for Roux et Brunet...

A very fine French Belle Époque 19th century tulipwood and gilt bronze-mounted Vernis Martin decorated Vitrine by Louis Majorelle (French, 1859-1926). The single door case with a hand-painted board depicting a garden courting scene surmounted with ormolu wreaths and a banded frame. The top with a pierced gilt bronze gallery above an ormolu royal tassel trim flanked by a pair of female masks above crossed torches and flames, cross flutes, a tambourine, a pan flute, ribbons and a tassel. Raised of four cabriolet legs with corner ormolu wreaths and leaves ending with hooves, Paris, circa 1990. The back bears the original Majorelle label that reads: "Louis Majorelle, Fabrique a Nancy, 3 Rue Girardel. Depot. 56 Rue de Paradis, Paris." Louis-Jean-Sylvestre Majorelle, usually known simply as Louis Majorelle, (26 September 1859 – 15 January 1926) was a French decorator and furniture designer who manufactured his own designs, in the French tradition of the ébéniste. He was one of the outstanding designers of furniture in the Art Nouveau style, and after 1901 formally served as one of the vice-presidents of the École de Nancy. The Majorelle firm's factory was designed by famous École de Nancy architect Lucien Weissenburger (1860 – 1929) and located at 6, rue du Vieil-Aître in the western part of Nancy. In the 1880s Majorelle turned out pastiches of Louis XV furniture styles...

A Fine Louis XV Style Gilt-Bronze Mounted Table Vitrine by François Linke. French, circa 1900. Linke Index Number 131. The lockplate signed 'F.Linke', the mounts variousl...

Petite French vitrine in the style of Louis XV Rococo Piano black polished veneer on solid beechwood high-octagonal, one-armed, curved body, three-sided t...

A Very Fine French 19th Century Ormolu-Mounted Louis XV Style Double-Door Vitrine attributed to Francois Linke. The front bombe Vernis Martin panel decorated with a painted scene wit...

Plywood black polished veneer on solid softwood. High-rise, one-door, cambered and three-sided glazed body on high slanted, angled feet. Profiled cornice with marble top. Inside two ...

Crafted in the 18th century, this antique Austrian two door cabinet is painted with a well-detailed floral motif and adorned with hand-carved and gold leafed decorations. Exquisitely...

Italian bookcase period 1930s in walnut and walnut veneer with two drawers, wax polished. Upper showcase with grating and the two lower doors covered in leatherette. Excellent condit...

A very fine French Louis XV style ormolu and jasperware-mounted mahogany single door vitrine, attributed to François Linke (1855-1946). The two upper front corners surmounted with or...

A finely carved Rococo style display cabinet or vitrine in walnut, France, late 19th century. Richly decorated with fine rococo scrolls and floral ornaments, with an angel figure in ...

An unusual French 19th century kingwood, vernis martin vitrine in the style of a Sedan chair. Having serpentine glass to the front and sides. Bombe fronted painted panels, ormolu mou...

A fine French, 19th-20th century Louis XV style mahogany and gilt bronze-mounted Vitrine by Haentges Freres. The single door cabinet surmounted with or...

A superb quality French 19th-20th century Louis XV style ormolu-mounted kingwood, satinwood and satine single door figural vitrine by the renown Parisian master craftsman and cabinet...

A fine French 19th-20th century Louis XV style Kingwood and ormolu-mounted single-door Vitrine, the demilune shaped cabinet with and arched bonnet, molded trim above a bombé glazed d...

French Louis XV-style (19th Century) kingwood 2 door vitrine display cabinet with bronze trim and shaped glass sides

A very fine French 19th century Louis XV style ormolu mounted plum pudding mahogany veneer, mahogany and Vernis Martin decorated vitrine à Deux Corps, probably by François Linke (1855-1946). The lower structure fitted with finely chased gilt-bronze mounts with female masks, musical instruments, floral drapes, bows and acanthus, centred with a frieze drawer and a cupboard door with three painted panels. The centre front painted panel with a Romantic courting park setting scene amongst sheep and a sculpture fountain of Putti; the side panels both with parks scenes of a resting lion sculpture and fountain flanked by grassing sheep. The lower cabinet interior with three drawers, the upper vitrine case with two glass shelves, a bowed beveled front door and sides, crowned with a fine gilt-bronze wreath mount with ribbons, all raised on four cabriolet legs with cast lion paw mounts. Unsigned, Paris, circa 1890-1900. The style of this cabinet is closely related to those produced in the Paris furniture making trade in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in the 1880s and as such, without a signature or identifying mark, is unattributable. However, there are similarities with the firm Raoux et Brunet, some of whose mounts were designed by Léon Messagé and later used by François Linke. Indeed many of the mounts on this cabinet, whilst not exclusive to him, are very similar to the work produced in his early years in Paris in the 1880s. At this time Linke was making furniture to order...

Rare and important 19th century French kingwood and parquetry inlaid display or vitrine cabinet, signed by the renowned designer and cabinet maker François Linke. The shaped bonnet atop large glass double doors and inset parquetry panels trimmed in bronze. Finely appointed overall with remarkably detailed gilt bronze mounts depicting caryatid masques, maiden busts, shells, acanthus leaves, and fleur de lis. The entire on gilt bronze animal...

Showcase rosewood design 1950, Italian, very special cross-legged, brass parts.

French Louis XV-style (19th Century) mahogany and bronze trimmed vitrine table with glass top and sides.

Pair of Italian painted and gilt vitrines with hinged glass tops, carved intertwined decorative floral vine motif, corner floral medallions, and terminating on bulbous fluted legs su...

Attributed to Francois Linke, this fine Louis XV style kingwood vitrine features ormolu mounts, an oval jasperware plaque, and retains it's original marble top. The vitrine is from t...

French Louis XV-style (19th Century) kingwood 2 door vitrine display cabinet with shaped glass sides and rust marble top

Russian neoclassical mahogany cabinet with brass inlay, circa 1820. Upper cabinet fitted with glass sides and front glass door with three shelves; bottom section single door cabinet.  

French display cabinet with carvings of love birds. It has three glass shelves that have been added as well, as mirrored back and mirror on the bottom. The shelves are adjustable....

A very fine and palatial French 19th century Louis XV style giltwood ornately carved two-door vitrine display cabinet of serpentine form with foliate and shell carvings, surrounding ...

Petite French vitrine in the style of Louis XV Rococo Piano white polished veneer on solid beechwood high-octagonal, one-armed, curved body, three-sided t...

A fine quality late 19th century Louis XV style gilt bronze mounted two-door Vernis Martin Vitrine Surmounted by a marble top above a frieze with scrolling foliage, above two glas...

A fine Louis XV style gilt bronze-mounted Vitrine with a Brèche d’Alep Marble Top By Franc¸ois Linke Signed to the reverse of the lock ‘CT LINKE/ PARIS’. Linke index number 208. Th...

The cornice ornamented by a carved vase above four doors with wire-mesh paneling, retaining gilt brass door fittings of fine quality, the inside with an ...

Pair of Italian painted and gilt hanging glass wall vitrines with fitted interior upholstered shelving, floral gilt motif, and the original wood bac...

Introducing a truly exceptional cabinet with a hidden writing desk. This exquisite piece of furniture showcases a captivating combination of rosewo...

A fine quality 19th century Louis XV style kingwood vitrine, having the original marble top, classical ormolu mounts, bevelled glass, adjustable shelves. A Wedgwood plaque inset to t...

Impressive pair of French 19th century Louis XV style gilt bronze-mounted Kingwood and mahogany marquetry Encoigneurs, corner cabinets or vitrines, attributed to Paul Sormani. The upper section with molded cornice and shell cresting and enclosed by a bowed glazed panel door, the lower section surmounted by a marble top of arc-en-arbalète outline above two frieze drawers and cupboards below enclosed by tambour shutters, raised on short cabriole legs ending in foliate sabots, lock plates engraved 'Sormani PARIS.' Circa: Paris, 1875. Height: 90 1/2 inches (230 cm). Width: 44 inches (112 cm). Depth: 29 inches (74 cm). Sormani, Paul (1817-1877): Born in Venice, Paul Sormani set up in Paris in the middle of the 19th century. He specialized in creating furniture and works of art and was known for his high quality reproductions of Louis XV and XVI furniture...

A fine quality French Kingwood Louis XV style vitrine, having silver plated mounts, serpentine glass to the front and sides, adjustable shelves ...

This beautiful French Louis XV bookcase has a single molded domed top and two arched doors with screened openings. The bibliotheque is carved with wheat, grapes, flowers, leaves and ...

A petite French Louis XV period walnut vitrine display cabinet from the 18th century, with single glass door and richly carved floral-themed motifs. Created in France during the 18th...