Jean-françois Hache - Louis XV Period Reading Table

A Louis XV period reading table, quadrilateral rectangle shape with curved front, inlaid with ash burr, natural or stained, walnut burl and ebony on blackened and natural cherry wood frames. Our reading light opens to the side with a drawer divided into three small poly-lobed compartments for the inkwell, powder compact, sponge and quill box, and a large one for the banknote.
The tripartite tray is composed of two reserves, centered on a gilded morocco with small irons; the periphery of the tray has a flat baguette on its sides and front, while its sharply curved face has a blackened corbin beak. In the center, this is hinged, releasing an adjustable rack shelf under the morocco, which can be tilted to form a music stand. Each of the reserves is adorned with an undulating vegetal decoration of magnifying glasses in light and dark contrasts, delineated by fillets evoking brush strokes. The rim is decorated with poly-lobed arabesques in ebony-black leafy lines, with a series of angular curves and counter-curves against a background of light-tinted burl. On the back, a movable screen sheathed in golden-yellow silk slides vertically into the base, set back from the top. The whole rests on a fine cambered pedestal with cut sides punctuated by ebony sabots. The Hache fils à Grenoble stamp is struck on the edge of the front crosspiece and that of the drawer. Dimensions: height 69.2cm at the top and 106.8cm screen deployed, length 65cm and depth 45cm.