A rare form in a fine state of preservation, related New England desks-on-frames usually have square rather than turned stretchers (two such examples are owned by Winterthur Museum). An exception is an identical desk with slightly more elongated turnings which was probably made in the same shop (see Nutting, Furniture Treasury vol. 1 (New York, 1928-33), p. 593). Successors to solitary boxes and precursors to slant-lid desks, desks-on-frames were luxury items that provided owners a place to write, store and lock away personal papers and as a holdover from boxes, were still easily detachable if one needed to remove the upper section in the event of fire or other circumstance.