BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS HACHE

This charming bureau de dame epitomises the distinctive oeuvre of Jean-François Hache (1730-1796), the best known of the celebrated dynasty 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 woods such as birch and maple in bold marquetry cartouches. 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. Closely related bureaux by Hache are illustrated in R. Fonvieille, La Dynastie des Hache, Grenoble, 1974, p. 66 (previously in the collection of Baron von Thyssen), and p. 64 (in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).