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Lot Essay
Although unstamped, this table crire can probably be attributed to Roger van der Cruse, dit Lacroix (matre in 1755). Through his marriage to Jeanne Prograin in 1750, RVLC became the brother-in-law of the bniste Jean-Franois Oeben (matre in 1761) and the close stylistic affinities between their oeuvres suggests that the two frequently collaborated. In the design of the top, with its stylised cartouche above a central scallop-shell and foliate tendrils, the Rothschild table is clearly indebted to Oeben and relates, for instance, to two tables mchanique by the latter in the Louvre (D. Alcouffe et al., Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Dijon, 1993, vol. I, no. 53, pp. 176-179 and no. 54, pp. 180-2). A further related table also in the Louvre (op.cit., no. 86, p. 268), supplied by the fournisseur de la Cour Gilles Joubert on 4 September 1770 in a retardataire style for Madame Victoire's use at Fontainebleau, was, interestingly, probably subcontracted by Joubert to RVLC.
Belonging, therefore, to a group of tables traditionally associated with Oeben - including two further examples illustrated in A. Boutemy, Meubles Franais Anonymes du XVIIIe Sicle, Brussels, 1973, nos. 116-7 - the distinctive lozenge parquetry employed on the top of the Rothschild table appears on several documented pieces of furniture by RVLC. These include the table crire sold from the collection of Franois Gurault in Paris, 21-22 March 1935, lot 86; the table la Bourgogne in the muse Nissim de Camondo, Paris (Catalogue, Paris, n.d., no. 345); and the bureau plat delivered by Jean-Franois Oeben on 14 June 1756 for the Bibliothque of the Dauphin at Versailles, which is now in the muse National du chteau de Versailles et les Trianons (inv. no. 5295; illustrated in the Revue du Louvre, May, 1990).
The use of bois de bout floral marquetry tendrils is more usually associated with RVLC's contemporaries, specifically Bernard II van Risenburgh, Joseph Baumhauer, Jacques Dubois and Jacques-Philippe Carel. Interestingly, of these both Dubois and Carel, in their capacity as marchands, are known to have sub-contracted work out to their confrres.
Belonging, therefore, to a group of tables traditionally associated with Oeben - including two further examples illustrated in A. Boutemy, Meubles Franais Anonymes du XVIIIe Sicle, Brussels, 1973, nos. 116-7 - the distinctive lozenge parquetry employed on the top of the Rothschild table appears on several documented pieces of furniture by RVLC. These include the table crire sold from the collection of Franois Gurault in Paris, 21-22 March 1935, lot 86; the table la Bourgogne in the muse Nissim de Camondo, Paris (Catalogue, Paris, n.d., no. 345); and the bureau plat delivered by Jean-Franois Oeben on 14 June 1756 for the Bibliothque of the Dauphin at Versailles, which is now in the muse National du chteau de Versailles et les Trianons (inv. no. 5295; illustrated in the Revue du Louvre, May, 1990).
The use of bois de bout floral marquetry tendrils is more usually associated with RVLC's contemporaries, specifically Bernard II van Risenburgh, Joseph Baumhauer, Jacques Dubois and Jacques-Philippe Carel. Interestingly, of these both Dubois and Carel, in their capacity as marchands, are known to have sub-contracted work out to their confrres.