This dresser is attributed to Linke, one of the greatest cabinet-makers of the 19th century.
Linke started his career as a cabinet-maker working with the great cabinet-making firms that signed his work, such as Krieger, Jansen and also Christofle. His participation in the 1900 World Expo in Paris would definitively establish his reputation.
This dresser with glossy mahogany veneer is, like all of Linke’s furniture, enhanced with fairly voluminous sculpted bronze that follows the design of the structure and the base. For that, Linke was assisted by the famous sculptor Léon Messagé.
This antique dresser has no visible signature on the bronze, which was common for this cabinet-maker, but the piece can definitely be attributed to to him. The dresser has two drawers in façade and two curved doors on the sides, which makes for its originality.
My work, after removing the bronze, involved restoring the unstuck glossy veneers, mainly in the parts where the curve is the most pronounced.
The sliding of the drawers and closing of the doors, precise to a millimetre, demanded a just as precise readjustment. The sponge-applied varnish finish highlights those pronounced curves enhanced by all the bronze that I had also re-gilded. To finish, a breccia marble crowns this dresser.
