BY FRANÇOIS LINKE, PARIS, CIRCA 1900

This is a rare table by the great belle époque ébéniste François Linke: a variant of the supremely desirable tea table Index Number 1477 supplied to Mr. Nussinoff, a wealthy Russian banker from Kharkov, in 1907 and to Elias Meyer in 1909. Without the glass trays or raised central superstructure, an example like the present was supplied to Heinrich Schicht as late as 1938. The Renaissance style caryatid clasps to the corners, with their laced-bodices and ruffle collars, are most unusual (see C. Payne, François Linke: The Belle Époque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003, pl. 255, p. 239).