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a small desk with a clock on top of ita wooden table with a clock on top of itan image of a wooden table with a bird on ita small wooden bench with a wooden seat on ita wooden desk with a clock on top of ita clock that is sitting on top of a tablea small wooden bench with a deer on ita book with a picture of a large mirror in the middle of it
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Premium Pierre Bergé & Associés

97 - A rosewood writing desk with a curved top, the oblong top fe…
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Estimate €20,000 - €30,000
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Description
A rosewood writing desk with a curved top, the oblong top featuring a gilded bronze gallery decorated with posts and foliage, comprising a lamp arm and an inkwell, surmounted on the left by a cabinet opening to reveal two small drawers supporting a figure of Cupid amidst clouds, decorated with contoured frames, naturalistic foliage, shells and pomegranates, resting on a base opening to reveal a drawer and four curved legs adorned with foliage scrolls, with a border and claw feet; (restorations; sun-faded veneer; fitted with electricity). Signed by François Linke (on the lock). Made between 1939 and 1944. H_111 cm W_85 cm D_45 cm Provenance: Acquired in 1944 directly from F. Linke et Cie. Image 8: View of F. Linke’s stand at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris, photograph. Bibliography: C. Payne, Linke, 1855–1946, The Belle Époque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003. Seven identical writing desks were produced under the direction of François Linke (1855–1946) between 1900 and 1944. The first in this small series (no. 552) was one of the showpieces of the Linke stand at the 1900 Paris World’s Fair. A photograph of the stand allows us to identify this first example at the exhibition. An identical desk-cum-cardboard box was sold at Sotheby’s in New York on 19 April 2007, lot 163 ($419,000); it had previously been sold at Sotheby’s in New York on 25 October 1996, lot 201. Another desk was sold in Nice, at the Nice Riviera auction house, on 3 December 2005, lot 100. The current owner’s family archives contain an interesting letter signed by François Linke, dated 28 July 1944, regarding the acquisition of this desk, in which François Linke, following the hesitation of a potential buyer, suggests meeting again to finalise the sale of the desk. C. Payne’s book specifies that the desk was already in production in 1939, the date on which the bronze chiselling was carried out (op. cit. p. 134). Expert: Pierre-François DAYOT - Expert: DAYOT Pierre-François
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About the sale Harmonie des siècles : Furniture, Paintings, Works of art
Auction location
Auction time 06/26/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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