Elegant pedestal table, France, Circa 1880 Lemon...

Elegant pedestal table, France, Circa 1880 Lemon tree, Green-stained wood, Gilded bronze Height 76.5 cm; Diam. 46 cm Elegant Louis XV-style pedestal table in green-stained wood marquetry on a lemon-tree background, beautifully decorated with chased and gilded bronze, opening with a drawer in the waistband. The top and crotch shelf are surrounded by an openwork ormolu gallery and decorated with a fine Queen's style marquetry of carnation seedlings in a trellis. The ensemble rests on three curved legs that reverse at mid-height and end in hooves. Related work: Model close to a Louis XV period table stamped R.V.L.C., dating from the 18th century and reproduced in P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe siècle, Dictionnaire des Ébénistes et des Menuisiers, Editions de l'amateur, Paris, 1989, pp. 753. Biography: Of Flemish origin, cabinetmaker Roger Lacroix (1728-1799), also known as Roger Vandercruse, became friends with cabinetmakers Jean-François Oeben and Jean-Henri Riesener, successively married to his elder sister. Becoming a Maitre in 1755, he took over his father's factory on rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, and quickly achieved great renown. By 1769, he was in charge of all court orders, supplying the Comtesse de Provence and Madame Victoire. Lacroix distinguished himself by producing high-quality, highly homogeneous Louis XV furniture, with a great talent for mark-making. His first production, in the Louis XV period, evolved with the attributes of the Transition period. At the end of the Louis XV reign, he was one of the first to produce furniture in ebony-inlaid lemonwood. He then produced Louis XVI models of great precision, marked by the arrival of a characteristic motif, the helical rosette. Lacroix specializes in bonheurs-du-jour, which he likes to decorate in the Chinese style. The cabinetmaker also made numerous small tables, using repeated motifs of interlocking circles or lozenges, squares with eyelets or fleurons, or vertical striations in yellow and green imitating straw marquetry. Lacroix ended his business during the Revolution, with neither son nor wife to take over. His factory was sold after his death. Bibliography: Les ébénistes français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Alexandre Pradère, Société Nouvelle des Éditions du Chêne, Paris, 1989.