A late 19th century mahogany, Vernis Martin and gilt bronze mounted, French, Bureau à Douchine. The three small frieze drawers above a cylinder and ogee shaped fall opening to reveal a relined writing surface with three small drawers, above a single long drawer operating the cylinder when opened. The base with four square tapering legs ending in gilt sabots. Mounts regilded.
This desk, although not signed, shows all the hallmarks of the early Linke workshop practices of the 1880’s. It compares directly with the sketch on page 18 of Daybook 2, apart from the top of the legs. The Vernis Martin panels would have been commissioned separately, by the wholesaler Merlin, at this early stage of Linke’s production.
The desk is numbered ‘2’ in numerous places, and has pencil inscriptions to beneath the baize, ‘Drap Vert'(Green Cloth), and to the underside of the writing panel. The original brass lock stamped for ‘Vachette Frères’. The locksmiths first used this stamp in 1874.
French
Circa 1885