BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS HACHE

This striking commode, with bold panels of floral marquetry framed by scrolling cartouches on fields of richly marbled burr birch, typifies the distinctive oeuvre of Jean-François Hache (1730-96), the best known of the celebrated family of cabinet-makers from Grenoble. The fourth of the twelve children of Pierre Hache, he set up on his own around 1754, producing a wide variety of both domestic and luxury furniture, often employing distinctive local woods with bold panels of marquetry, as on the example offered here. His furniture often carries a trade label, proudly advertising the range of his output, as on an example dated 1771, where he styled himself Ebéniste de Monseigneur le Duc d'Orléans, featuring on a secrétaire sold Christie's new York, 21 October 1997, lot 226. A closely related commode by Hache, dated 1760-5, is illustrated in M. Clerc, Hache Ebénistes à Grenoble, Grenoble, 1997, p. 92, fig. 58. The commode offered here is accompanied by a letter from Mme. Clerc confirming the attribution to Jean-François Hache.