Chest Of Drawers Stamped R. Lacroix (1728-1799) 18th Century

Exceptional and Rare Transition Period Chest of Drawers, Stamped R. LACROIX + JME, from the 18th Century. It opens on the front with 5 Drawers on 3 Rows, Two of which are without Crossbars. Superb Gilded Bronze Ornamentation: Foliage Pull Rings, Lock Entrances, Corner Falls with Marie Antoinette Knots and Plant Garlands. It stands on slightly arched Feet, shod with closed Gilded Bronze Clogs. Our Chest of Drawers is topped with its Original Grey Marble with a slight projection and groove all around. It measures 113 CM in Length, 51 CM in Depth and 81 Cm in Height. It is in very good condition. VANDERCRUSE Roger dit Lacroix or RVLC Roger Vandercruse dit Lacroix (1728-1799) is a Cabinetmaker who received his master's degree on February 6, 1755: A very talented cabinetmaker, Roger Vandercruse Lacroix is one of those who most marked the Transition period and contributed to the evolution of furniture towards classicism. Of Flemish origin, this son of a free worker cabinetmaker born in Paris in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine immediately integrated into the community and formed many alliances, notably with the cabinetmakers Jean-François Oeben and Jean-Henri Riesener, successively husbands of his older sister, Françoise-Marguerite. He was also a great friend of the merchant Pierre Migeon to whom he delivered many light pieces of furniture and of the cabinetmaker Martin Carlin. He delivered to merchants such as Poirier and Daguerre. In 1755, after his father's death, Lacroix decided to take over his father's factory on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. The high quality of his works and a particularly fertile production quickly earned him a great reputation. From 1769, through his colleague the merchant Gilles Joubert, he was in charge of all the orders of the court. He thus supplied several pieces of furniture to the royal residences, notably to the Countess of Provence and Madame Victoire. Within his community, Lacroix occupied a respected position: juror from 1768 to 1770, he was then successively syndic and deputy in 1784. A great specialist in fancy furniture, Lacroix distinguished himself by his very homogeneous Louis XV furniture, of great quality and a great talent as a marquetry maker. His style is recognizable by his marquetry of crosspieces and quatrefoils called "à la reine". He most often decorated his works with nuanced mosaics and small wooden paintings in the composition of which he brought taste and fantasy. His first production, in the Louis XV era, evolved with the attributes of the Transition era. At the end of the reign of Louis XV, he was one of the first to make furniture in lemon tree inlaid with ebony. He also imagined monochrome decorations, with designs of flowers or Chinese subjects. His chests of drawers, almost all of a Transition model, most often consist of a rectangular case, curved legs and two main drawers topped with three frieze drawers covered with gilded bronze interlacing. The marquetry is organized in three panels on the front surrounded by gilded bronze frames notched at the corners in a square or round, with gilded bronze rosettes. The motifs are most often geometric motifs or vases of flowers. He then made Louis XVI models of great precision marked by the arrival of a characteristic motif, the helical rosette. Lacroix specialized like Topino in the bonheurs-du-jour which he liked to decorate in the Chinese style with a marquetry of small vases of flowers or various utensils, derived from motifs of Chinese screens. The cabinetmaker also made many small tables for which he used repeated motifs of nested circles or diamonds, grids with eyelets or fleurons or even yellow and green vertical stripes which imitate straw marquetry. Lacroix ended his activity during the Revolution, without a son or wife to take over. His factory was sold after his death.