Unknown American
Desk

Public Domain

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Images(2)

Maker Unknown American

CultureAmerican

Titles

Desk

Datec. 1700–1730

Made inNewport, Rhode Island, United States

MediumBlack walnut, undetermined burl veneer, and eastern white pine; eastern white pine, black walnut, yellow-poplar, cherry, Cuban oyster wood (Gymnanthes lucida), and chestnut

DimensionsOpen: 41 1/4 × 36 1/4 × 33 3/8 in. (104.8 × 92.1 × 84.8 cm)
Closed: 41 1/4 × 36 1/4 × 19 5/8 in. (104.8 × 92.1 × 49.8 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg

Object numberB.69.42

Current Location

The Audrey Jones Beck Building

106 Cameron Gallery

On view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

FURNITURE

DescriptionA variety of written communications were essential for wealthy colonial Americans to maintain family contacts and business relationships over long distances. Letters, orders, and financial instruments such as bills of exchange could take weeks to reach their destinations, making accurate record keeping essential. The slant-front writing desk, essentially a large box secured with dovetail joints holding smaller boxes—the drawers—which were built the same way, was a new furniture form at the turn of the 18th century. This desk’s sophisticated patterning of highly figured veneers is characteristic of an as-yet unidentified group of Rhode Island cabinetmakers.
Provenance[Collings and Collings, New York City]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, October 20, 1927; given to MFAH, prior to 1969.
Exhibition History"Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830," Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, August 19, 2016–January 8, 2017.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Two interlocked loops, in chalk, on underside of bottom board; "T" and [illegible], in chalk, on exterior of backboard; illegible graphite, on interior back and proper-right side of proper-right upper exterior drawer; letter [“S” with spiral tail?],” in graphite, on exterior back of upper exterior drawers; “1 [probably later],” in graphite, on exterior bottom of proper-left upper exterior drawer; letter [“S” with spiral tail?], C-scroll, and “B,” in graphite, on exterior back of upper exterior long drawer; illegible word and “Back,” in graphite, on interior back of bottom exterior drawer; graphite letter [including “SP”?], in graphite, on exterior back of exterior bottom drawer; “1” and “/,” in graphite, on exterior back of proper-right interior drawer; “2” and “/,” in graphite, on exterior back of second interior drawer from proper-right; “3” and “T,” in graphite, on exterior back of middle interior drawer; an arc, in graphite, on exterior proper-right side [in upper front corner] of middle interior drawer; “5,” in graphite, on exterior back of proper-left interior drawer; illegible inscription, in graphite, on exterior proper-left side of proper-left interior drawer; illegible graphite on exterior sides of interior document drawers; "x," incised, on interior front of interior drawer marked "2" and interior back of drawer marked "3"

[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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