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Lot Essay
Roger van der Cruse, dit Lacroix, maître in 1755.
Lacroix was born in 1728, the son of the ouvrier libre François van der Cruse. 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, as well as to the Garde-Meuble and the duc d'Orléans.
Lacroix was one of the first Parisian ébénistes to use large veneers of bois citronnier for his marquetry tables, bonheurs-du-jour and secrétaires, thereby emphasising the natural contrast of the clear timber against the richly-coloured ebony, amaranth or green-stained fruitwood. He was a precursor in the art of using citronnier as a fond for his marquetry à quadrillage, à fleurons or à lambrequin, a stylistic approach which would again come into fashion half a century later under Charles X. The most characteristic element of this avant-garde style is the swirling acanthus or rosace pivotante, to use the expression of P. Kjellberg, which features on both the top and lower tier of this table à écrire. Recurrent in his oeuvre, this idiosyncratic swirling acanthus appears on a number of related tables, bonheurs-du-jour and secrétaires stamped by Lacroix, including: a bonheur-du-jour of circa 1780 branded with the marks of the Palace of Pavlovsk, suggesting that it would have been acquired by the grande duchesse Maria-Feodorovna during her trip to Paris in 1782 (C. Roinet, Roger Vandercruse dit La Croix, 1727-1799, Paris, 2000, p. 51; and P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIè Siècle, Paris, 1998, p. 765); and a related oval table à écrire stamped 'RVLC' and with sprung side compartments formerly in the collection of André Meyer (sold Christie's, New York, 26 October 2001, lot 40, $176,500).
TWO DIFFERENT STAMPS - 'LACROIX' AND 'RVLC'
Unusually, Lacroix employed two different stamps to sign his work, 'LACROIX' and the abbreviated version 'R.V.L.C'. Typically these stamps were used separately, but interestingly, they are found together on a few occasions. A porcelain-mounted secrétaire à abattant at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire (Roinet, op. cit., fig. 40, p. 98) is a rare recorded example by Lacroix which presents both the 'LACROIX' and the 'R.V.L.C' stamps employed simultaneously. No definitive answer has been found as to why Lacroix used two stamps or why he used one instead of the other on any given piece. The reigning theory, put forth by Christian Baulez, suggests that the ébéniste used the more discreet 'R.V.L.C' stamp for pieces intended for the marchands-mercier, and the more obvious 'LACROIX' stamp when selling directly to private patrons. (ibid., p. 26).
Lacroix was born in 1728, the son of the ouvrier libre François van der Cruse. 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, as well as to the Garde-Meuble and the duc d'Orléans.
Lacroix was one of the first Parisian ébénistes to use large veneers of bois citronnier for his marquetry tables, bonheurs-du-jour and secrétaires, thereby emphasising the natural contrast of the clear timber against the richly-coloured ebony, amaranth or green-stained fruitwood. He was a precursor in the art of using citronnier as a fond for his marquetry à quadrillage, à fleurons or à lambrequin, a stylistic approach which would again come into fashion half a century later under Charles X. The most characteristic element of this avant-garde style is the swirling acanthus or rosace pivotante, to use the expression of P. Kjellberg, which features on both the top and lower tier of this table à écrire. Recurrent in his oeuvre, this idiosyncratic swirling acanthus appears on a number of related tables, bonheurs-du-jour and secrétaires stamped by Lacroix, including: a bonheur-du-jour of circa 1780 branded with the marks of the Palace of Pavlovsk, suggesting that it would have been acquired by the grande duchesse Maria-Feodorovna during her trip to Paris in 1782 (C. Roinet, Roger Vandercruse dit La Croix, 1727-1799, Paris, 2000, p. 51; and P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIè Siècle, Paris, 1998, p. 765); and a related oval table à écrire stamped 'RVLC' and with sprung side compartments formerly in the collection of André Meyer (sold Christie's, New York, 26 October 2001, lot 40, $176,500).
TWO DIFFERENT STAMPS - 'LACROIX' AND 'RVLC'
Unusually, Lacroix employed two different stamps to sign his work, 'LACROIX' and the abbreviated version 'R.V.L.C'. Typically these stamps were used separately, but interestingly, they are found together on a few occasions. A porcelain-mounted secrétaire à abattant at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire (Roinet, op. cit., fig. 40, p. 98) is a rare recorded example by Lacroix which presents both the 'LACROIX' and the 'R.V.L.C' stamps employed simultaneously. No definitive answer has been found as to why Lacroix used two stamps or why he used one instead of the other on any given piece. The reigning theory, put forth by Christian Baulez, suggests that the ébéniste used the more discreet 'R.V.L.C' stamp for pieces intended for the marchands-mercier, and the more obvious 'LACROIX' stamp when selling directly to private patrons. (ibid., p. 26).