RELATED LITERATURE
Marianne Clerc, Hache; Ébéniste A Grenoble, Paris, 1997.
Pierre Rouge and François Rouge, Le génie des Hache, Dijon, 2005.

Presented here is a magnificent commode attributed to the French ébéniste Thomas Hache (1664–1747). It features a distinct curving ‘crossbow’ façade, with three longs drawers inlaid to appear as six. These are fitted with gilt-bronze drop handles and cartouche-shaped keyhole escutcheons. The marquetry of bone, ebony, walnut and various fruitwoods has retained remarkable vibrancy and contrast, with little discernible fading. The floral pattern is restrained and naturalistic, with a flowered vase composition that echoes the still-life paintings of Germany and the Low countries. Dated c.1720, it was produced shortly before Hache’s appointment as "cabinetmaker-in-ordinary to the Duke of Orléans" in 1721. As such, this commode may well have featured in the body of designs that brought Hache to royal attention.

The attribution of Thomas Hache can be confirmed by the commodes similarity to a group of ‘mazarine commodes’ produced by the ébéniste c.1715-1720, and presented in Pierre Rouge and François Rouge, Le génie des Hache, pp.204-211. The present commode features almost identical marquetry decoration to two of these (the top and façade respectively) - see Fig. 1. & Fig. 2. Additionally, Pierre Rouge and François Rouge note that disconnected semi-circular nets, as found on the drawers of this commode, are a recurrent motif in many designs by Thomas Hache (op. cit., p.204). Further related examples all attributed to Thomas Hache were sold by Christies Paris, 11 December 2019, lot 169; Ivoine Lyon, 25 May 2019; De Baecque, Paris, 2 December 2017, lot 195; and Replica Shoes ’s New York, 9 November 2006, lot 9.

Thomas Hache

The son of baker turned ébéniste Noël Hache, Thomas Hache was born in Toulouse. He received a foundational training in his father’s workshop before travelling to Paris. There, it is likely he entered the atelier of Dutch-born “master furniture maker-in-ordinary to the King” Pierre Gole (1620-1684). Under Gole, Hache learned the essentials of his art, and developed a visual style strongly influenced by his master’s virtuosic floral marquetry. At the age of twenty Hache left the Capital for Chambéry in the Duchy of Savoye, then under Italian dominion, before settling at last in Grenoble sixty kilometres to the south. Employed by local ébéniste Michel Chevalier, Hache later married Chevalier’s daughter and, upon the older man’s death, assumed control of the workshop. Firmly established in a workshop of his own, Hache developed a reputation for exceptional design and quality of decoration. Drawing from the dense alpine forests surrounding Grenoble, he almost exclusively used rare indigenous woods, avoiding heavy reliance on tints and dyes which are now known to fade over t.mes . As such, his marquetry has retained a strong contrast of colour and claritys of detail. When Hache died in 1747 the workshop was taken over by his sons Pierre and François, who continued the Grenoble cabinetmaking dynasty for a further forty years.