Lot Essay
With its undulating pediment, pointed oval mullions, and rectangular break-front case, this Gentleman's secretary typifies the geometric aesthetic which defined the federal style. Particularly associated with the port city of Salem, these breakfronts were popularly known in their time as "Salem Secretaries." Included as early as the 1796 Journeymen Cabinet and Chair Makers' New York Book of Prices, where they were more formally referred to as a "Library Book-case with wings." Even though they were listed as the second most expensive piece of furniture to make, their prevailing desirability was significant enough that they were made speculatively, or "ventured" and sent out of Salem in the cargo holds of ships to find buyers in the American South and abroad.
Several Salem cabinetmakers are particularly well known for the secretaries they produced. Labeled examples from the shops of Edmund Johnson (working 1793-1811), Mark Pittman (b. 1779) and Nehemiah Adams (1760-1840) reveal the intricate economy of these significant forms. Beyond his individual work as a master cabinetmaker, Nehemiah Adams was also a member of a furniture cooperative along with cabinetmakers William Appleton (1756-1822), Jacob Sanderson (1758-1810), and his brother Elijah Sanderson (1752-1825) among others. This group regularly made furniture for export. In addition, Adams was part owner of several ships between 1800-1804. An 1804 invoice between Nehemiah Adams and Captain James Devereux, of the ship "Franklin" included 21 pieces of furniture, valued at $1036, to be sold "..for the most they will bring at the isle of France or elsewhere ..." (Charles Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period (New York, 1966) p. 226) A labeled Nehemiah Adams gentleman's secretary, now in the collection of the Winterthur Museum, (Montgomery, pp. 224-6, fig. 181) was found in Capetown, South Africa. An unlabeled example, Sold in these Rooms on January 24, 1987, lot 292, was found in the Bordeaux region of France. Further examples of similar forms have been located in South America as well. Examples from the intercoastal trade include two unlabeled Salem secretaries illustrated in Fiske Kimball "Salem Secretaries and their Makers"The Magazine Antiques (May 1933) vol. XXIII, no. 5, pp. 168-170, the first found in Charleston, South Carolina (see frontispiece), the second found in Annapolis, Maryland (see figure 5).
A nearly identical example, now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, illustrated and discussed in Richard C. Randall, American Furniture in the Museum of Fine Arts, (Boston, 1965) pp. 96-100, fig. 67. Made for Captain Clifford Crowninshield, this breakfront was used by his son-in-law, sea captain James Devereux, who ventured cargo for many Salem cabinetmakers including Nehemia Adams' shipment abroad on the Franklin. Both the Crowninshield secretary and the example illustrated here share the same molded cornice with acorn corbeled fret and gothic arches above oval-mullioned doors. Each case is fitted with a writing slide above a butler's drawer flanked by cupboard doors with cockbeaded rectangular panels with cut-out corners. The example illustrated here differs in that the space for the ledgers is contained in a compartment in the middle-upper section, while the Crowninshield secretary employs the more standard design in which they were contained in the lower cupboard-section concealed by doors. Five of the pigeonholes on the Crowninshield example bear name tags of ships, including the "General Stark, the "Ellen Douglass," the "Otter," the "Osprey," and the "Mary Ann," each of which can be traced to Devereux's ownership.
For other related examples, see Montgomery, p.222-223, figs. 179-180; Kimball, p. 170, figs. 8-9. A further example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is illustrated and discussed in Montgomery and Kane, eds., America Towards Independence (Boston, 1976) pp. 172-3, no. 124; as well as one labeled "Best" in Albert Sack, Fine Points of Furniture (New York, 1950) p. 171.
Several Salem cabinetmakers are particularly well known for the secretaries they produced. Labeled examples from the shops of Edmund Johnson (working 1793-1811), Mark Pittman (b. 1779) and Nehemiah Adams (1760-1840) reveal the intricate economy of these significant forms. Beyond his individual work as a master cabinetmaker, Nehemiah Adams was also a member of a furniture cooperative along with cabinetmakers William Appleton (1756-1822), Jacob Sanderson (1758-1810), and his brother Elijah Sanderson (1752-1825) among others. This group regularly made furniture for export. In addition, Adams was part owner of several ships between 1800-1804. An 1804 invoice between Nehemiah Adams and Captain James Devereux, of the ship "Franklin" included 21 pieces of furniture, valued at $1036, to be sold "..for the most they will bring at the isle of France or elsewhere ..." (Charles Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period (New York, 1966) p. 226) A labeled Nehemiah Adams gentleman's secretary, now in the collection of the Winterthur Museum, (Montgomery, pp. 224-6, fig. 181) was found in Capetown, South Africa. An unlabeled example, Sold in these Rooms on January 24, 1987, lot 292, was found in the Bordeaux region of France. Further examples of similar forms have been located in South America as well. Examples from the intercoastal trade include two unlabeled Salem secretaries illustrated in Fiske Kimball "Salem Secretaries and their Makers"The Magazine Antiques (May 1933) vol. XXIII, no. 5, pp. 168-170, the first found in Charleston, South Carolina (see frontispiece), the second found in Annapolis, Maryland (see figure 5).
A nearly identical example, now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, illustrated and discussed in Richard C. Randall, American Furniture in the Museum of Fine Arts, (Boston, 1965) pp. 96-100, fig. 67. Made for Captain Clifford Crowninshield, this breakfront was used by his son-in-law, sea captain James Devereux, who ventured cargo for many Salem cabinetmakers including Nehemia Adams' shipment abroad on the Franklin. Both the Crowninshield secretary and the example illustrated here share the same molded cornice with acorn corbeled fret and gothic arches above oval-mullioned doors. Each case is fitted with a writing slide above a butler's drawer flanked by cupboard doors with cockbeaded rectangular panels with cut-out corners. The example illustrated here differs in that the space for the ledgers is contained in a compartment in the middle-upper section, while the Crowninshield secretary employs the more standard design in which they were contained in the lower cupboard-section concealed by doors. Five of the pigeonholes on the Crowninshield example bear name tags of ships, including the "General Stark, the "Ellen Douglass," the "Otter," the "Osprey," and the "Mary Ann," each of which can be traced to Devereux's ownership.
For other related examples, see Montgomery, p.222-223, figs. 179-180; Kimball, p. 170, figs. 8-9. A further example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is illustrated and discussed in Montgomery and Kane, eds., America Towards Independence (Boston, 1976) pp. 172-3, no. 124; as well as one labeled "Best" in Albert Sack, Fine Points of Furniture (New York, 1950) p. 171.