Desk and Bookcase

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Desk and Bookcase
Datec. 1745–1780
Made inBoston, Massachusetts, United States
MediumMahogany; mahogany, eastern white pine, yellow-poplar, and black cherry
Dimensions98 × 44 1/2 × 22 7/8 in. (248.9 × 113 × 58.1 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.69.363
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Massachusetts Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Bombé furniture was produced on the European continent as well as in England, with historical precedents for it dating back to ancient Rome. In colonial America its inspiration was derived from imported English furniture and design books, its production limited to the Boston area and neighboring Essex County. The earliest documented example is not a piece of domestic furniture but the majestic pulpit created in 1749 by Abraham Knowlton (died c. 1749) for the First Church of Ipswich. Four years later the Charlestown, Massachusetts, cabinetmaker Benjamin Frothingham (1734–1809) signed a monumental desk and bookcase, now recognized as the earliest documented piece of bombé furniture. The Bayou Bend desk is closely related in appearance, manifesting the earliest phase of the bombé in America.

Related examples: The Bayou Bend desk and bookcase is the only example with bombé construction among a sophisticated group of case pieces attributed to an unidentified Boston cabinetshop, the carving on some attributed to John Welch (1711–1789): Jobe 1991; Miller 1993. Most closely related is the Quincy block-front desk (Miller 1993, pp. 172–74). The Bayou Bend desk and bookcase is also reminiscent of two other desk and bookcases (Morse 1924, pp. 134–36) and to the well-known example by Benjamin Frothingham (Conger 1991, pp. 93–94, no. 13). The discovery of a block-front desk inscribed Boston cabinetmaker by Richard Walker (d. 1777) has associated his name with this body of furniture (Zimmerman and Levy 1995).

Book excerpt: Warren, David B., Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.


ProvenancePurchased by Frederick Beck, Sandwich, at auction, Massachusetts, 1818 [1]; […]; [Joe Kindig, Jr. (1898–1971), York, Pennsylvania, 1948]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1948; given to MFAH, by 1969.

[1] According to the drawer’s inscription, the desk was owned by Cornelius Waldo (1684–1753) or James Ivers (1727–1815); to Benjamin Austin, Sr. (1716–1806), or Benjamin Austin, Jr. (b. 1752).
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed on writing section interior drawer: this desk was in the possession of [--] Father to the wife of Benjamin Austin Esq. for 30 years and then in the possession of said Austin for a number of years; then bought at Auction April 23. 1818 by Frederick Beck for his school room, cost twenty-two dollars being then rather ancient and out of fashion
Signed on interior drawer: Charlotte C.; York [possibly]
Chalked initials: BON [possibly]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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c. 1750–1775
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c. 1820–1830
Grained, painted, and gilded mahogany, and birch; mahogany veneer on eastern white pine with black walnut banding, ash, eastern white pine, cherry, and original brass casters
B.68.31