TRANSITION ERA CURTAINS SECRETARY Attributed to Roger Vandercruse dit Lacroix or RVLC In rosewood veneer decorated on all sides, chased and gilded bronze ornamentation, top of Spanish brocatelle marble, the front opening with two sliding flaps revealing an interior with three compartments, seven drawers including a lateral one and a writing desk, the cambered legs decorated with bronze sabots and finished with casters; formerly fitted with a crotch shelf now missing H. 118 cm (46 ½ in.) l. : 84.5 cm (33 ¼ in.) P. 41.5 cm (16 ¼ in.) Provenance: Sale in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, April 2, 2008, lot 208 ; Acquired during the latter by the current owner. Comparative bibliography: P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe siècle, les Éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, p. 797, fig. a. N. De Reyniès, Mobilier Domestique, Éditions du Patrimoine, 2003, Vol. II, p. 1125, fig. 4256. C. Ronnet, Les Cahiers du Mobilier, Roger Vandercruse dit Lacroix, les Éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 2000, p. 18. A Transitional gilt-bronze mounted and tulipwood secretaire, attributed to Roger Vandercruse, called Lacroix or RVLC * Information to buyers: For an exit from the EU, a re-export CITES may be required, this being at the expense of the future purchaser. * Information to buyers: For an exit from the EU, a CITES re-export certificate will be necessary, at the buyer's expense. The original design of this elegant secretary is due to the innovative talent of one of the greatest French cabinetmakers of the mid-eighteenth century, Roger Vandercruse dit Lacroix, master in 1755. A curtained secretary comparable to ours stamped by Lacroix, but of larger size, is kept in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (Inv. PE 1511). Several examples of the same model as ours are known today, among them we recall : A first one, stamped Lacroix and provided with its crotch shelf coming from the former Cognacq collection and illustrated in C. Ronnet, Les Cahiers du Mobilier, Roger Vandercruse dit Lacroix, les Éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 2000, p. 18. A second one from the Goultine collection, also stamped and illustrated in N. De Reyniès, Mobilier Domestique, Éditions du Patrimoine, 2003, Vol. II, p. 1125, fig. 4256. A last one, attributed to Lacroix and lacking its crotch shelf (Sotheby's Paris sale, April 16, 2013, lot 137).