BEAUTIFUL TRANSITION PERIOD CHEST OF DRAWERS BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS HACHE On a cherry wood frame, it opens with two rows of slightly curved drawers on the front, the sides being very slightly curved, and rests on two curved front legs ending in "pastilles", the two back legs being silhouetted. Key assembly It features an original decoration of oval medallions in the centre of each drawer, veneered with four moiré beech leaves, surrounded by wide red beech fillets, also present around the drawers and forming original cherry wood reserves punctuated with small brown-tinted sycamore burr discs. The sides feature a variation of this decoration, while the rounded front jambs are adorned with a large cartouche of beautiful brown-red stained moiré burr sycamore. Pull handles with medallions adorned with profiles "à l'antique", surrounded by laurel garlands and held by a ribbon as on the key escutcheons, in varnished bronze. Beige shell limestone with grey veins, crossbow curves on the front and sidesJean-François HACHE (Grenoble 1730-1796), label VII dated 1772 The veneer is slightly missing, the sides are cracked and raised. A draw handle is missing. 86 x 133 x 65 cm Provenance: Property of Aix en Provence This unusual commode illustrates the "à la grecque" taste that was fashionable in the middle of the 18th century, of which Jean-François Hache has produced a new transitional model between the Louis XV and Louis XVI styles, with the curves of the frame softened but enhanced by the more pronounced curves of the marble - a typical Hache technique - and a more rectilinear cut of the lower crosspiece. Only the pull handles are truly Louis XVI with their medallions of "antique" profiles. As for the colourful decoration, the assembly and the legs, they remain faithful to the unique style of the Hache workshop, cabinet makers to the Duc d'Orléans in Grenoble since the beginning of the 18th century. Bibliography: -see a similar model in "Le génie des Hache", Pierre and Françoise Rouge, Faton 2005, p. 302 Expert : Françoise ROUGE Expert for the Court of Appeal of Paris 06 03 93 23 76 [email protected]