A FEDERAL MAHOGANY DESK

SIGNED BY WILLIAM LLOYD (1779-1845), SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, DATED 1809

Details

A FEDERAL MAHOGANY DESK
Signed by William Lloyd (1779-1845), Springfield, Massachusetts, dated 1809
The rectangular case fitted with a fall-front hinged lid with ivory diamond-inlaid keyhole surround opening to three line-inlaid short drawers, one with pencil inscription, "Wm Lloyde at Springfield/Cabinet and Chair Maker/Sir please to call & By a/gain & you will much oblige/the above name Jan y 15 1809/Price of this Desk is $18-[illegible]," above a removeable writing surface, revealing an interior well fitted with valenced pigeonholes over checkered line-inlaid above a long drawer with line edges over a sawtooth inlaid skirt, on string-inlaid tapering legs with inlaid cuffs
37in. high, 33in. wide, 18.1/8in. deep

Lot Essay

Probably early nineteenth-century Springfield's most successful cabinetmaker, William Lloyd (1779-1845) produced a varietyof forms in the federal style. Lloyd had set up his own business by 1802 and, in the year of his death, was still listed as a cabinetmaker in the City's directory. Made in 1809, this desk shows Lloyd's work at the height of his career. One of his labels states that his shop produced "all kinds of Cherry and Mahogany Work" and the use of the latter in this desk indicates that it was one of his more expensive items. The zig-zag inlay along the skirt is identical to that on a desk-and-bookcase bearing his and Luther Bliss' signatures.

Signed or labelled examples of his work include a sideboard formerly in the collection of Nina Fletcher Little, a tall-case clock in the collection of Historic Deerfield, Inc., a pembroke table in the collection of Old Sturbridge Village and several forms in the collection of the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum. For the most comprehensive study of Lloyd's work, see Colglazier, Springfield Furniture 1700-1850 (Springfield, 1990), pp.20-32, 54-55.