ARMOIRE SIMULANT UN MEUBLE À DEUX CORPS BY THOMAS HACHE - Lot 138

ARMOIRE SIMULANT UN MEUBLE À DEUX CORPS BY THOMAS HACHE Opening with two large doors, separated horizontally by two reserves with blackened wood moldings, inlaid with draperies, foliage scrolls and horns of plenty, which simulate the drawers of double-body cabinets opening with four doors and gradually abandoned in favor of double-body cabinets with two large doors. Rich marquetry on the doors of foliate scrolls in three-lobed spandrels, around four octagonal moulded medallions in blackened wood, inlaid with foliage and foliate scrolls around a fancy monogram on a pedestal and surmounted by draperies topped by a marquis crown inlaid with ornaments in imitation of gems, tinted red and green. Partye inlays, in light wood shaded with hot sand to give relief, on a background of stained wood and blackened wood, in surrounds of beautiful veined olive wood, on the front and sides adorned with fillets forming rectangles. Mulberry wood fillets. On the top rail, an inlaid frieze of foliate scrolls and acanthus leaves around a male figure, similar to those found on several Thomas Hache scagliola wedding cabinets, and on either side, small cartouches enclosing flowers in red and green stained wood, the sides adorned with a counterparty inlaid cartouche of palms and foliate scrolls surmounted by a count's crown. Fir wood frame, walnut and filleted rectangles inside the doors, resting on four blackened wood ball feet. Thomas HACHE (Toulouse 1644- Grenoble 1747), Chambéry, circa 1685-1690 H. 199 cm - W. 143 cm - D. 62 cm A few fine cracks, keyholes, lock plate and key. This model will be reproduced in Volume II of the book "Le génie des Hache", P. et F. Rouge, Faton 2005, soon to be published by Editions Faton. A TRANSITION MODEL IMAGINED BY THOMAS HACHE Some of Thomas Hache's clients seem to have been particularly attached to the four-leaf armoire, also known as the "meuble à deux corps", of which the Fondation Bemberg in Toulouse preserves a model superbly inlaid by the son of Noël Hache, a cabinetmaker from Calais who settled in Toulouse in the mid-17th century. However, this double-barreled furniture fell out of fashion when Pierre Gole (c. 1620-1684), the King's cabinetmaker, invented the cabinet with two large doors, which Thomas Hache took up with his trademark brilliance when he settled in Chambéry, the administrative capital of the Duchy of Savoy, around 1685. In this prototype model, which remains unknown to other French cabinetmakers, Thomas Hache breaks new ground with two large doors, but harks back to the past through the illusionist process of rectangular, molded and inlaid reserves, which evoke the drawers of the lower section of double-body furniture, by being placed in the middle of each leaf. This is the third model of this type known to date, the second bearing the arms of Mazenod and Thomas, two noble families from Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, allied in 1696, and whose decoration is very similar. Another model, on the other hand, is decorated with bouquets of flowers closer to those of Thomas Hache's wedding cabinets, and has abandoned the molded medallions in blackened wood. The cornice frieze is characteristic of Thomas Hache's style, and features the central motif of a young man holding foliage scrolls, from which it emanates, and which is found on three other cabinets richly inlaid with flowers (ibidem, pp. 84-85, 88-89 and 97). Finally, the assembly of this cabinet is interesting in that the upper part forming the capital (comprising the cornice moldings and the frieze of the top rail), has not yet been made removable, as attested by the dovetails securing the top (this is also the case on the model bearing the Thomas and Mazenod arms), whereas the capitals of his flower-inlaid cabinets are secured by pegs and removable. Françoise ROUGE, expert to the Paris Court of Appeal, 06 03 93 23 76