Manufacture
Messagé Léon
1842-1901
Léon Messagé, born March 8, 1842 in Sens, in the Yonne. At 20, he lived in Paris, at 23 Rue de Rivoli and was then referenced as a stone sculptor.
Around 1855, he began to collaborate with François Linke, an important cabinetmaker of the Belle Epoque, providing him with models for furniture and ornamental bronzes.
They collaborated until the death of Message, which occurred at the age of 58 on May 16, 1901.
It was thanks to this collaboration with Linke that Messagé enjoyed success during the last decades of the 19th century.
In fact, Messagé was awarded a gold medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1889. He was entrusted with the design of all the important furniture for François Linke’s stand for the Universal Exhibition of “1900.
While there was a lot of work for Linke, Messagé has always remained an independent craftsman working on his own account. In his workshop located at 40 rue Sedaine in the 11th Arrondissement of Paris, he was therefore the designer and creator of his models. The fundamental principle of Messagé’s design is a light Rococo, a characteristic asymmetry of the rockery that Parisian artisans developed in the 1720s.