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Lot Essay
Roger Vandercruse, known as Lacroix, maître in 1755.
This refined bonheur du jour is virtually identical to the one supplied to the Grand-Duchess Maria Feodorovna for the Palace of Pavlosk, likely purchased on her trip to Paris in 1782 (C. Roinet, Roger Vandercruse, Paris, 2000, p.51 fig. 16, illus). It was sold at Christie’s Geneva 8 May 1973, lot 60 and is now in a private collection. Both display swirling acanthus in amaranth against a bois citronnier ground which along with geometric inlay were leitmotifs of Lacroix’s oeuvre. It also appears on numerous small tables, including the preceding lot. These works were likely supplied to the marchand mercier Philippe Poirier as a related secretaire à abattant now in the Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor is described in Poirier’s day book for 6 July 1777 (Ibid, p.102). A second bonheur du jour attributed to Lacroix with a different porcelain plaque is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (58.75.52).
Roger van der Cruse, known as Lacroix, was one of the premier ébénistes who worked in the transitional style between the Louis XV and Louis XVI eras. He was born the son of the ouvrier libre François van der Cruse in 1728 and was related by his sisters’ marriage to the maître-ébénistes Jean-François Oeben and to Jean-Henri Riesener. Elected maître in 1755, Roger took over his father's business and in his early career supplied furniture to Gilles Joubert. He 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. Lacroix is perhaps most commonly known for small gueridons which incorporate delicate trellis marquetry against a bois citronnier ground such as the previous lot in the Stafford collection.
ANITA O'KEEFE YOUNG
Anita O’Keeffe Young (1891-1985) was the sister of artist Georgia O’Keeffe and was married to Robert R. Young, the New York Railroad magnate. With homes in Newport, New York and in Palm Beach, Young hosted the luminaries of her day such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and the Maharani of Jaipur. A devoted Francophile, Young laid eighteenth century parquet de Versailles floors in Montsorrel, her spectacular Palm Beach and New York residences. She also employed the decorator Stéphane Boudin of the renowned French interior design firm Jansen to create the interiors of her penthouse at 900 Fifth Avenue which was sold to the Staffords along with some of its contents.
This refined bonheur du jour is virtually identical to the one supplied to the Grand-Duchess Maria Feodorovna for the Palace of Pavlosk, likely purchased on her trip to Paris in 1782 (C. Roinet, Roger Vandercruse, Paris, 2000, p.51 fig. 16, illus). It was sold at Christie’s Geneva 8 May 1973, lot 60 and is now in a private collection. Both display swirling acanthus in amaranth against a bois citronnier ground which along with geometric inlay were leitmotifs of Lacroix’s oeuvre. It also appears on numerous small tables, including the preceding lot. These works were likely supplied to the marchand mercier Philippe Poirier as a related secretaire à abattant now in the Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor is described in Poirier’s day book for 6 July 1777 (Ibid, p.102). A second bonheur du jour attributed to Lacroix with a different porcelain plaque is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (58.75.52).
Roger van der Cruse, known as Lacroix, was one of the premier ébénistes who worked in the transitional style between the Louis XV and Louis XVI eras. He was born the son of the ouvrier libre François van der Cruse in 1728 and was related by his sisters’ marriage to the maître-ébénistes Jean-François Oeben and to Jean-Henri Riesener. Elected maître in 1755, Roger took over his father's business and in his early career supplied furniture to Gilles Joubert. He 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. Lacroix is perhaps most commonly known for small gueridons which incorporate delicate trellis marquetry against a bois citronnier ground such as the previous lot in the Stafford collection.
ANITA O'KEEFE YOUNG
Anita O’Keeffe Young (1891-1985) was the sister of artist Georgia O’Keeffe and was married to Robert R. Young, the New York Railroad magnate. With homes in Newport, New York and in Palm Beach, Young hosted the luminaries of her day such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and the Maharani of Jaipur. A devoted Francophile, Young laid eighteenth century parquet de Versailles floors in Montsorrel, her spectacular Palm Beach and New York residences. She also employed the decorator Stéphane Boudin of the renowned French interior design firm Jansen to create the interiors of her penthouse at 900 Fifth Avenue which was sold to the Staffords along with some of its contents.