Offered by Galerie Gilles Linossier
Dimensions: H 118.5cm x W 77cm
17th century work attributed to Thomas Hache
Rare mirror with double inverted profile and pediment.
The frame is richly marked by two friezes of foliage scrolls, acanthus leaves and stylized flowers, alternating light wood and dark wood using the technique of "burnt wood with hot sand" which makes it possible to define nuanced shading.
The original bevelled mercury mirror is surrounded by a blackened wooden border, which contrasts with the inlaid decor in bright colors.
The pediment is decorated with volutes posed like a drapery which frame a central vase (characteristic of the vases of Thomas Hache) from which emerge flowers and stylized acanthus leaves.
Due to the refinement and the technique of "wood burnt with hot sand" we can attribute this mirror to the very famous cabinetmaker Thomas Hache.
Other elements such as the exterior frieze called "wolf claws" or "little hands" for this ornamentation in the shape of drops, are typical characteristics of this cabinetmaker.
Finally, the abundantly flowered decor playing on these contrasts of bright and dark colors is one of the hallmarks of the Hache family. Indeed, Thomas Hache innovates in these veneers. "It is in the content of these veneers prepared in advance, where scrolls, foliage and flowers are stylized in very detailed and dense compositions, which belong only to him and that no other cabinetmaker, except Pierre (his son), was not used. The vegetal ornaments they contain are cut in a light and shaded wood to give relief" Le genius des Hache, by Pierre and François Rouge, p. 65.
It is quite rare to find a mirror of this extraordinary quality of "Italian marquetry" and still has its pediment.
If Thomas Hache (1664-1747), a cabinetmaker from Grenoble, produced such abundant marquetry, it was through his apprenticeship with Pierre Gole, cabinetmaker to King Louis XIV and master of flower marquetry, then in Chambéry where he discovered the decor Italian style (plant windings, interlacing, arabesques, acanthus leaves and proliferation of plant representations.) and the scagliola technique.
It is from this technique that he develops his inlay marquetry working the interweaving of shapes and wood species.
In 1695, he moved to Grenoble and became a prestigious cabinetmaker always in search of harmony between form and pattern. His works are of great precision of execution, such is the case here for our mirror.
Some examples support this attribution:
Example of a detail from a "Armoire aux Armes de Savoie" by Thomas Hache. The genius of the Axes, by Pierre and Francois Rouge, p. 78
We can see in this example (of a wardrobe among many others of the same style by Thomas Hache) the characteristics of acanthus leaves and the vase, very similar to that of our mirror.
other examples allow us to see these "wolf claws" also called "little hands" characteristic of Hache's work and the manufacture of mirrors with inverted double profiles, which confirm our attribution.
