À L'HOMME SAUVAGE" BRIDAL WARDROBE BY THOMAS HACHE Entirely and very richly inlaid with naturalistic flowers - tulips, lilies, peonies, carnations, daffodils and anemones, in wood of various colours and au naturel, in baskets on pedestals in red scagliola and in Medici vases in blue scagliola, garlands of flowers, foliate scrolls, volubilis, florets and fillets in blue scagliola, birds and Renommées, in reserves with fillets surrounded by a pewter fillet, on stained wood backgrounds and walnut burl counter-backs on the leaves. On the cornice frieze, surrounded by small cartouches inlaid with a hippogriff - a fabulous animal with the head of an eagle and the body of a horse - two male figures, one carrying a club, fight amid foliage scrolls adorned with blue scagliola*. Around the two large doors runs a frieze of acanthus leaves and foliage, echoed in part by the counterpart frieze on the sides, richly inlaid with tulips, daffodils, peonies and anemones in vases and foliage. vases and foliate scrolls, in three reserves surrounded by a pewter fillet, on a brown stained wood base with a walnut backing. H. 211.5 cm - W. 159 cm - D. 64.5 cm Thomas Hache (Toulouse 1664-Grenoble 1747), Chambéry, circa 1690-1695 Lower drawer added, modifications to the capitals and backs, interior veneer of the doors enriched with lozenges. Bibliography: described and reproduced in the book "Le génie des Hache", Pierre and François Rouge, Faton 2005, N°3, p. 82-83. * The theme of the "wild man", in which a young man grabs the hair of a shaggy man who has dropped his club, was repeated several times on the cornices of Thomas Hache's cabinets. The first evokes courtly love, which prevails over lust. "PAINTING IN WOOD", METAL MARQUETRY AND RED AND BLUE SCAGLIOLA This model is typical of Thomas Hache's work in Chambéry, the capital of the Dukes of Savoy, where he worked for around ten years before joining Michel Chevallier's workshop in Grenoble around 1695 and taking over in 1699. This is one of the most luxurious flower marquetries known from the end of the 17th century, a veritable "painting in wood", as these Louis XV decorations were known. as these Louis XIV decorations were known, so close to nature is its realism, in the same way as the flower paintings by Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (1636-1699) worked with Charles Le Brun, the king's first painter and director of the Gobelins factory from 1663. But Thomas Hache broke new ground by introducing into his marquetry a very Italian technique, invented in the 17th century Scagliola, a powdered selenite crushed and mixed with coloured pigments, is used here in two colours - red and blue - which is particularly rare, as his cabinets usually have only one shade of scagliola when they are decorated with it. As a further testament to his savoir-faire, which knows nothing of Parisian fashion, Thomas Hache surrounds his reserves with fine pewter fillets, a discreet reference to the metal marquetry developed by his mentor, Pierre Gole (c. 1620-1685), the King's cabinetmaker in 1651. Expert: Françoise ROUGE, expert at the Paris Court of Appeal, 06 03 93 23 76