by Joseph Emmanuel Zwiener, each with a circular top above a conforming body with panelled door, raised on square scroll legs, joined by two under shelves Note: Joseph Emmanuel Zwiener was born in Heidau, Snesia, circa 1848. He died in 1925. He is listed as working in Paris between 1880-1895 at the rue de la Roquette. In 1895, the Paris workshop appears to have been taken over by another important ebeniste Francois Linke. It is thought that the sculptor Leon Mesange who orginally worked with Zwiener may have transferred to Linke’s workshop The high quality of the cabinet work and the gilt-bronze mounts are characteristic of Zwiener’s work. As Mesange worked for Linke and Zwiener in the same style, many of Zwiener’s pieces have been attributed to Linke. In order to differentiate commissions, the bronzes were often marked on the reverse side with the maker’s initials. Several of Zwiener’s mounts have been found with a “Z”, a “ZW”, or “IZ”, on the reverse while other pieces have been found with a signature and/or date. In 1889, the firm won a gold medal at the Paris world fair ‘Exposition Universelle’ for a Jewel Cabinet. Julius Zwiener was commissioned to make an important bedroom suite for Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1898.