Ref. 1819

G. Durand

Cabinet-maker (1839-1920)
(attributed to)

Pair of « Carnation » Tables 

France
Circa 1880

Marquetry, Gilded bronze

Height : 75,5 cm (29,7 in.) ; Diameter : 46 cm (18,1 in.)

Elegant pair of Louis XV style tables in green stained wood marquetry on a satinwood background, beautiful chiseled and gilded bronze ornamentation, opening with a belt drawer. The top, as well as the spacer, are surrounded by an openwork gallery in gilded bronze and decorated with a beautiful carnation marquetry à la Reine in a trellis. The whole rests on three cabriole legs reversing halfway up and ending in sabots.

related work

Louis XV period table, stamped R.V.L.C., 18th century, reproduced in P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe siècle, Dictionnaire des Ebénistes et des Menuisiers, Editions de l’amateur, Paris, 1989, pp. 753.

Biography

Of Flemish origin, cabinet-maker Roger Lacroix (1728-1799), also known as Roger Vandercruse bound with the cabinet-makers Jean-François Oeben and Jean-Henri Riesener, successively husband of his older sister. Maitre in 1755, he took over his father’s factory in rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine and very quickly acquired great renown. From 1769, he was in charge of all court orders, and thus supplied the Countess of Provence and Madame Victoire. Lacroix is distinguished by very homogeneous Louis XV furniture, of high quality and a great talent for marquetry. His first production, during the Louis XV period, evolved with the attributes of the Transition period. At the end of Louis XV’s reign, he was one of the first to make furniture in satinwood inlaid with ebony. He then made Louis XVI models with great precision marked by the arrival of a characteristic motif, the helical rosette. Lacroix specialized in bonheurs-du-jour that he liked to decorate in Chinese style. The cabinetmaker also made many small tables for which he used repeated patterns of interlocking circles or diamonds, grids with fleurons or even vertical yellow and green stripes that imitate the marqueterie de paille. Lacroix put an end to his activity under the Revolution, without a son or wife to take over. His factory is sold after his death.

G. Durand participated in the 1889 Universal Exhibition where he was awarded a silver medal. A. Picard’s exhibition report stated that, « Mr Durand, cabinet-maker, as skilful as modest, displays for the first time very fine furniture, which has been designed and made by him. He is walking in the footsteps of giants such as Beurdeley and Dasson ». Durand made almost exclusively reproductions of 18^th Century masterpieces, among which, those made by the most famous Parisian cabinet-maker, supplier of the Royal family : B.V.R.B. His works reveal in all points the great harmony between the forms, marquetry decoration and bronzes.