H: 20.5 in / 52 cm
Description
A Pair of Marble Urns in the Louis XVI Manner
Attributed to François Linke
Carved from Green Cipollino marble and dressed with gilt bronze mounts, rising from square bases, the ovoid baluster bodies supported by waisted socles and flanked by sculptural mounts of ram's masks and stylized c-scrolls, capped with fixed domed lids surmounting by flowering finials.
French, circa 1900
A closely related pair of urns, also carved from Cipollino, were supplied to the King of Egypt for his residence at Ras al-Tin. A contemporary photograph of the King's Study shows a full Linke interior, with the vases on the mantelpiece. The commission for the King of Egypt was possibly the largest furniture commission ever received by an individual Parisian cabinetmaker, and included the Ras Al-Tin palace in Alexandria covering 17,000 square meters alone. In total, Linke supplied more than 1,200 items for the King of Egypt.
Literature
Payne, Christopher. François Linke, 1855-1946: The Belle Epoque of French Furniture. Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Club, 2003 (illus. p. 289).
