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Lot Essay
Roger Vandercruse, known as Lacroix, maître in 1749.
The motifs of stylized geometric floral motifs in amaranth on a satinwood ground, particularly the circular acanthus motifs seen on the present lot, are distinctive in the work of Roger Vandercruse, known as Lacroix. The stylized acanthus rosette and similar geometric inlay are very closely related to those found on a bonheur du jour stamped RVLC, with Pavlovsk palace inventory marks and probably purchased by Maria Feodorovna on her trip to Paris in 1782, sold Christie's, Geneva, 8 May 1973, lot 60 and now in a private collection, illustrated in C. Roinet, Roger Vandercruse, known as Lacroix, Paris, 2000, p. 51, fig. 16.
Other tables with closely related inlay include a table with similar circular acanthus inlay sold from a private European collection, Christie's, Paris, 22 June 2005, lot 154; another table with similar inlay sold anonymously, Sotheby's, New York, 24 October 2003, lot 30. A table with flower-filled trellis parquetry but with similar circular geometric acanthus motif at the center of the top and undertier sold from the collection of the late André Meyer, Christie's, New York, 26 October 26, 2001, lot 40.
Roger van der Cruse, known as Lacroix, was born the son of the ouvrier libre François van der Cruse in 1728. As was typical of the time when the guild system defined one's social standing as well as more personal contacts, Roger's three sisters all married maître-ébénistes. Elected maître in 1755, Roger took over his father's business and was soon supplying furniture to the ébéniste Pierre II Migeon, the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier and directly to Madame du Barry at Louveciennes, the Garde-Meuble and the duc d'Orléans.
The motifs of stylized geometric floral motifs in amaranth on a satinwood ground, particularly the circular acanthus motifs seen on the present lot, are distinctive in the work of Roger Vandercruse, known as Lacroix. The stylized acanthus rosette and similar geometric inlay are very closely related to those found on a bonheur du jour stamped RVLC, with Pavlovsk palace inventory marks and probably purchased by Maria Feodorovna on her trip to Paris in 1782, sold Christie's, Geneva, 8 May 1973, lot 60 and now in a private collection, illustrated in C. Roinet, Roger Vandercruse, known as Lacroix, Paris, 2000, p. 51, fig. 16.
Other tables with closely related inlay include a table with similar circular acanthus inlay sold from a private European collection, Christie's, Paris, 22 June 2005, lot 154; another table with similar inlay sold anonymously, Sotheby's, New York, 24 October 2003, lot 30. A table with flower-filled trellis parquetry but with similar circular geometric acanthus motif at the center of the top and undertier sold from the collection of the late André Meyer, Christie's, New York, 26 October 26, 2001, lot 40.
Roger van der Cruse, known as Lacroix, was born the son of the ouvrier libre François van der Cruse in 1728. As was typical of the time when the guild system defined one's social standing as well as more personal contacts, Roger's three sisters all married maître-ébénistes. Elected maître in 1755, Roger took over his father's business and was soon supplying furniture to the ébéniste Pierre II Migeon, the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier and directly to Madame du Barry at Louveciennes, the Garde-Meuble and the duc d'Orléans.