SMALL BUREAU-PLAT "AUX PATTES DE LION"Louis XV style, Paris ca. 1890, signed F. LINKE (François Linke, Pankraz 1855-1946 Paris).Tulipwood and rosewood in veneer and inlaid with reserves and fillets. Top edged with shaped bronze, lined with dark, gold-impressed leather. On tall, curved legs. Front with broad drawer. Same but sham arrangement on verso. Exquisite fine matte and polished gilt bronze mounts and sabots.127 × 78 × 75 cm.Some losses to the marquetry.Provenance:- Private collection Germany.- Auction Koller Zurich, 22 March 2006, Lot No. 1145.- Swiss private property.F. Linke is considered the most important Parisian cabinet-maker of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1868, at the age of 13, he began a four-year apprentice as a cabinet-maker, after which he worked as an assistant in Prague until 1874 and for two-and-a-half years in Vienna, where he worked in a workshop that belonged to the guild. Through the Viennese guild, Linke received his registration as a journeyman. In 1875, he returned to Bohemia, was exempted from military service, migrated to Dresden, and from there via Weimar to Hesse up to Mainz. At the end of that year, Linke left Germany and traveled to Paris, where he presumably took a job in the workshop of the German-born ebeniste Joseph Emmanuel Zwiener. From 1877 onwards, Linke worked again for his old teacher,Franz Neumann in Reichenberg, where he produced his master craftsman piece at the age of only 22. Towards the end of that year, Linke returned to Paris. Linke's main sources of inspiration were royal furniture from the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI.Literature: D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le mobilier français du XIXe siècle, Paris 1989; pp. 439 ff. (biographical data). C. Payne, 19th Century European Furniture, Suffolk 1981; pp. 39/40 (biographical data). Ibid, François Linke, 1855-1946, The Belle Epoque of French Furniture; Suffolk 2003.---------------KLEINES BUREAU PLAT "AUX PATTES DE LION"Louis XV-Stil, Paris um 1890. Signiert F. LINKE (François Linke, Pankraz 1855–1946 Paris).Rosenholz und Palisander gefriest sowie mit geschweiften Reserven und Filets eingelegt. Rechteckiges, in profilierten Bronzestab gefasstes und mit dunklem, goldgepresstem Leder bezogenes Blatt mit ausgestellten und abgerundeten Ecken auf wenig ausgeschnittener Zarge mit hohen, geschweiften Beinen. Front mit breiter Zargenschublade. Gleiche, jedoch blinde Einteilung auf der Rückseite. Ausserordentlich feine, matt- und glanzvergoldete Bronzebeschläge und -sabots.127 × 78 × 75 cm.Wenige fehlende Marketerieteile.Provenienz:- Privatsammlung Deutschland.- Auktion Koller Zürich, , Lot 1145.- Schweizer Privatbesitz.F. Linke gilt als der bedeutendste Pariser Kunsttischler des ausgehenden 19. und beginnenden 20. Jahrhunderts. 1868 begann er im Alter von 13 Jahren eine vierjährige Lehre als Möbeltischler, danach arbeitete er bis 1874 als Ge