A Louis XV chest of drawers attributed to Jean-françois Hache

Chest of drawers called sauteuse, Louis XV period, in solid natural light walnut wood from Dauphiné with moldings and corbin beaks. Rectangular in shape, its front uprights are rounded, punctuated by small arched feet with pellets, reproduced on the hind legs. The sides are smooth with mirror effects, with a fretted base like the front. The whole is topped with a wooden top that follows the very pronounced movement of the frame; strongly curved with double indentation. This is covered on its periphery with a chamfered corbin beak. Our skillet opens with two sliding drawers on two exposed crosspieces. These are mounted half-tail also called "keys" interlocking directly in the inner side of the uprights to proscribe the unsightly use of conventional doweling. The ends of each of them are pinched with a very specific bulge. The upper crosspiece is dimpled with dovetails in the flat top of each of the uprights; the lower one is lined in the middle part with a tailpiece; equally typical techniques. The drawers are traversed on the periphery of a beak of corbin. These are mounted on fonçures in fir from the Alps, in rabbet with grooves and tongues; technique also called embedded. All the main features of the Place Claveyson workshop are therefore present on our chest of drawers. Its principles worked out by Pierre Hache allow us although in the absence of stamp to suppose that the advertising label of the workshop of the place Claveyson must have been deposited there formerly. However, because of this absence, we can only ethically attribute this elegant chest of drawers to the production of the famous Hache family. In addition, the smashed uprights and the sculpted lamp base suggest the date of its manufacture, to the period when Jean François Hache worked jointly with his father Pierre Hache. Our chest of drawers has two very specific qualities which tend to testify to a distant order; determining factors that attest to the reputation and recognition by his contemporaries of the notoriety of a very large cabinetmaking workshop in Grenoble. This sauté pan is equipped, given its large dimensions, with a removable tray held by four hooks and their hammered iron eyelets in order to facilitate its transport. In addition, on the top of the left outer upright, the letters "LP" are stamped, which probably correspond to the initials of a former owner, or of a castle following an inventory, or a requisition; very common process during the revolution. It should be noted that one of the four pull handles has been replaced in the old model, and that the bottom lock is missing. Dimensions: Length 132.7cm – depth 72.4cm – height 86.2cm.