The desk, or escritoire, evolved from the simple writing box. The earliest American examples date from the second quarter of the eighteenth century. During this period it was fabricated as a single unit or, as in this instance, with the cabinet resting on a stand, in much the same way the upper case of a high chest of drawers is secured. The arched cutout reminiscent of Early Baroque dressing tables and high chests is another similarity between these forms observable on the Bayou Bend example.

Technical notes: Soft maple; eastern white pine. The legs are integral with the corners of the frame. The bottom of the writing case is dovetailed to the sides, its top nailed on. The large drawer is joined by a single large dovetail and a half dovetail. The interior is composed of two large drawers with dividers channeled in above, resulting in seven small openings with seven larger compartments over them.

Related examples: Sack 1969–92, vol. 8, p. 2237, no. P5764. A high chest with a similar contoured skirt was advertised in Blackwood March’s auction brochure, June 29,1995.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff.  American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1988.