A pair of Louis XV gilt-bronze mounted satinwood, amaranth, tulipwood and kingwood marquetry commodes, circa 1750, probably by RVLC for Gilles Joubert

Hampel, Munich, 8 December 2007, Lot 1843 (sold 136 400 €)

Related literature :

H. Roberts, "Gilles Joubert as Subcontractor", Furniture History Society Journal, 1985, p. 31 - 34 ;

C. Roinet, "Roger Vandercruse dit Lacroix" ; dans Les cahiers du mobilier, Perrin & Fils, 2000

An Attribution to Roger Vandercruse, known as Lacroix, for Gilles Joubert

Gilles Joubert, supplier to the Crown Furniture Repository from 1743, then in 1758 Cabinetmaker in Ordinary to the Crown Furniture Repository, and finally cabinetmaker to the King, produced a large quantity of furniture for the royal residences. He signed only a small fraction of his creations and relied heavily on subcontracting, notably with Roger Vandercruse, known as Lacroix. A notable example is the commode delivered by Joubert for the Countess of Provence at the Château de Compiègne in 1771, stamped RVLC, and sold by Christie's, Paris, on 14 December 2022, lot 97.

Furthermore, a commode bearing a striking resemblance, both in form and in its marquetry decoration was sold by Christie's in Paris on 19 December 2007, lot 418, and bore the stamp of Gilles Joubert.

Our pair of commodes bears remarkable and very rare L x VE stamps. Its association with the cabinetmaker Lacroix leads us to consider that this could be an early work by this craftsman. Indeed, Roger Vandercruse, known as Lacroix, only became a master cabinetmaker in 1755, the date from which he began using his famous stamps R. LACROIX and R.V.L.C. It is therefore quite plausible that before this official recognition, particularly when working as a subcontractor for other merchants, he used a more discreet stamp incorporating his name through homophony. This hypothesis seems further supported by the sale, by Artcurial, of a commode bearing a comparable stamp, on 9 July 2024, lot 77.