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Lot Essay
Roger Vandercruse known as Lacroix, maître in 1755.
These elegant secrétaires à encoignure epitomize the ingenuity of Parisian ébénisterie in the latter part of the eighteenth century and particularly the oeuvre of Lacroix, who had specialized in the production of small, costly items of furniture, often embellished with intricate marquetry and sophisticated mechanical devices. On numerous occasions he collaborated with the celebrated marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier, who supplied precious materials such as Sèvres porcelain and oriental lacquer to be incorporated in these pieces. A closely related secrétaire with almost identical mounts and inlay and with a Sèvres porcelain plaque to the fall-front is at Waddesdon Manor, see G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild collection at Waddesdon Manor, Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronze, Fribourg 1974, pp. 337-341, cat 67; while another is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see C. Roinet, Roger Vandercruse dit La Croix, Paris, 2000, p. 57. A comparable secrétaire by RVLC with marquetry decoration to the fall-front sold Christie’s, London, 9 December, 2010, lot 261 (£145,250).
MRS. HAMILTON RICE
A Gilded Age philanthropist, who famously lost her first husband George D. Widener in the Titanic, Mrs. Hamilton Rice (née Eleanore Elkins and also known as Eleanor Elkins Widener, 1862-1937) commissioned Horace Trumbauer in the early 1920s to build a townhouse in New York that was then filled with French furniture and decorations. The interiors were executed in a restrained Louis XVI manner typical of the taste for recreating French interiors among American collectors during the first quarter of this century. Several of the rooms originated from various Parisian hôtels and Joseph Duveen was responsible for the interior decoration and furnishing of the residence. Much of her collection is now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This pair of secrétaires à encoignure are recorded in the second floor hall of this New York residence. However, interestingly, they also appear in the Grand Salon at Miramar, Mrs. Hamilton Rice’s Newport summer residence also designed by Trumbauer. It is possible that these pieces work moved seasonally from one location to another, suggesting that Mrs. Hamilton Rice was particularly fond of them.
These elegant secrétaires à encoignure epitomize the ingenuity of Parisian ébénisterie in the latter part of the eighteenth century and particularly the oeuvre of Lacroix, who had specialized in the production of small, costly items of furniture, often embellished with intricate marquetry and sophisticated mechanical devices. On numerous occasions he collaborated with the celebrated marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier, who supplied precious materials such as Sèvres porcelain and oriental lacquer to be incorporated in these pieces. A closely related secrétaire with almost identical mounts and inlay and with a Sèvres porcelain plaque to the fall-front is at Waddesdon Manor, see G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild collection at Waddesdon Manor, Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronze, Fribourg 1974, pp. 337-341, cat 67; while another is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see C. Roinet, Roger Vandercruse dit La Croix, Paris, 2000, p. 57. A comparable secrétaire by RVLC with marquetry decoration to the fall-front sold Christie’s, London, 9 December, 2010, lot 261 (£145,250).
MRS. HAMILTON RICE
A Gilded Age philanthropist, who famously lost her first husband George D. Widener in the Titanic, Mrs. Hamilton Rice (née Eleanore Elkins and also known as Eleanor Elkins Widener, 1862-1937) commissioned Horace Trumbauer in the early 1920s to build a townhouse in New York that was then filled with French furniture and decorations. The interiors were executed in a restrained Louis XVI manner typical of the taste for recreating French interiors among American collectors during the first quarter of this century. Several of the rooms originated from various Parisian hôtels and Joseph Duveen was responsible for the interior decoration and furnishing of the residence. Much of her collection is now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This pair of secrétaires à encoignure are recorded in the second floor hall of this New York residence. However, interestingly, they also appear in the Grand Salon at Miramar, Mrs. Hamilton Rice’s Newport summer residence also designed by Trumbauer. It is possible that these pieces work moved seasonally from one location to another, suggesting that Mrs. Hamilton Rice was particularly fond of them.
