ROGER VAN DER CRUSE DIT LACROIX (1728 - 1799) ET NICOLAS PETIT (1732 - 1791)

Rare cylinder desk all faces in green tinted wood veneer. It opens with four drawers in the belt; the cylinder surrounded by a bronze gallery reveals six drawers and three compartments and a sliding shelf ending with three false drawers. It rests on sheath feet decorated on all four sides with gilt bronze flowers and fruits in green tinted wood reserves underlined by a bronze cord. The onementation of the cylinder is divided into three compartments: on the right, a trophy of musical instruments including violins, a musette, a tambourine, a musical score, all hanging from a ribbon bow and surrounded by two laurel branches. On the left, a trophy composed of a bow on which rests a quiver and its arrows and a flaming torch surmounted by a couple of birds, the whole suspended from a knot of ribbons, the bottom of the composition surrounded by a garland of flowers. In the center, a rosette of acanthus leaves blossoms in a wide frame of green stained wood and a double bronze rod, the first with a water leaf motif, the second with a pearl and string motif. Stamped by Roger van der Cruse dit Lacroix, Nicolas Petit and Jurande. Louis XVI period. Height : 119 cm - Width : 126 m Depth : 67 cm (Restorations) The cylinder desk is one of the ultimate stages in the development of the desk. At first flat with a belt equipped with drawers and for some a cardboard box placed on the small side, the desk around 1730 is dressed with a step, placed in front, giving birth to what will be called the sloping secretary. The desire to protect papers from prying eyes led cabinetmakers to invent new solutions. After the sloping secretary, the cabinet secretary was born with a vertical flap. The ultimate achievement will be the cylinder secretary with a semicircular flap composed of slats, then around 1780 will replace the flap with flexible plates a rigid and tilting quarter-cylinder. The first of this series was the famous desk designed by Oeben for King Louis XV, finished by Riesener in 1769.