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Lot Essay
This Chippendale carved mahogany slant front desk with a blocked-serpentine front is attributed to William King (1754-after 1806) of Salem, Massachusetts. King first advertised in the Salem Mercury on July 21, 1789 and based on surviving accounts, he appears to have been a colorful character. In 1789, he stole a horse and buggy in an attempt to desert his family, but was unsuccessful as he was apprehended in New Haven. The diary of Salem's Reverend William Bentley, dated July 3, 1796 states, "News from Philadelphia that William King belonging to a good family in this Town after having dragged his family from Town to Town, left a note that he was going to drown himself and disappeared. It is supposed that he means to ramble unencumbered. The family are to return to Salem." In 1806, King reappeared when he advertised in Hanover, New Hampshire. He is not known to have ever returned to Salem, so the production of his work in that area can be accurately limited to the period before 1795 (Ethel Hall Bjerkoe, The Cabinetmakers of America (Garden City, New York, 1957), p. 138).
This desk is one of three pieces attributed to William King based on a labeled chest of drawers illustrated in The Magazine Antiques (September 1927), frontispiece (later sold Christie's, New York, Property from the Collection of Mrs. J. Insley Blair, 21 January 2006 lot 526 and Christie's, New York, 24 January 2014, lot 135). One of the other pieces is a chest of drawers at the Henry Ford Museum which has seemingly identical feet to those on this desk, illustrated in The Edison Institute, “American Chippendale Furniture, 1775-1790,” The Herald, vol. IV (October, 1975), p. 44. The final piece is a chest in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, illustrated in Dean Fales, Essex County Furniture: Documented Treasures From Local Collections, 1660-1860 (Salem, 1965), fig. 25. This desk and the Peabody Essex Museum desk are also illustrated in The Magazine Antiques (November 1944), p. 263, and frontispiece.
This desk is one of three pieces attributed to William King based on a labeled chest of drawers illustrated in The Magazine Antiques (September 1927), frontispiece (later sold Christie's, New York, Property from the Collection of Mrs. J. Insley Blair, 21 January 2006 lot 526 and Christie's, New York, 24 January 2014, lot 135). One of the other pieces is a chest of drawers at the Henry Ford Museum which has seemingly identical feet to those on this desk, illustrated in The Edison Institute, “American Chippendale Furniture, 1775-1790,” The Herald, vol. IV (October, 1975), p. 44. The final piece is a chest in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, illustrated in Dean Fales, Essex County Furniture: Documented Treasures From Local Collections, 1660-1860 (Salem, 1965), fig. 25. This desk and the Peabody Essex Museum desk are also illustrated in The Magazine Antiques (November 1944), p. 263, and frontispiece.