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Lot Essay
This striking games table, incorporating both a chess and draughts board framed by beautifully-figured burr-timbers, typifies the distinctive oeuvre of Jean-François Hache (1730-1796), 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 luxurious furniture, often employing distinctive local woods with bold marquetry panels. His pieces often carry 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'Orleans', featuring on a secretaire sold Christie's New York, 21 October 1997, lot 226.
The present table is embellished with interlaced strapwork with dark and light stringing suggesting depth. Surrounding the playing boards are shaped fields of burr-birch and burr-maple which continue on the sinuous legs. It relates to a group of Transitional furniture with undulating forms and neo-classical parquetry executed by Jean-François Hache circa 1770-'75, which is discussed in R. Fonvieille, La Dynastie des Hache, Grenoble, 1974, pp. 72, 80, 83, 88-89.
The present table is embellished with interlaced strapwork with dark and light stringing suggesting depth. Surrounding the playing boards are shaped fields of burr-birch and burr-maple which continue on the sinuous legs. It relates to a group of Transitional furniture with undulating forms and neo-classical parquetry executed by Jean-François Hache circa 1770-'75, which is discussed in R. Fonvieille, La Dynastie des Hache, Grenoble, 1974, pp. 72, 80, 83, 88-89.