A QUEEN ANNE INLAID WALNUT DESK-AND-BOOKCASE

Details

A QUEEN ANNE INLAID WALNUT DESK-AND-BOOKCASE
SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, 1730-1740

In two sections: the upper case with bonnet top and molded cornice centering three turned finials above a tympanum with conforming line inlay centering three inlaid Mariner's stars over double-arched and tombstone fielded panel doors with conforming line inlay with a central Mariner's star opening to reveal eight pigeonholes, four of which have shaped valances above four short drawers flanked by shortened drawers over a central prospect door with pilaster document drawers flanked by a pair of pigeonholes above three concave short drawers; the lower desk with applied molding above a rectangular top over a thumbmolded line and Mariner's star inlaid lid opening to a fitted interior with central prospect door and fluted pilasters flanked by four pigeonholes with shaped valances above two short drawers over five concave short drawers, the case with thumbmolded and line-inlaid graduated long drawers above molded base, on incised bun feet--95 3/4in. (243.5cm.) high, 37 1/2in. (95cm.) wide, 23in. (58.5cm.) deep

Provenance

Israel Sack, Inc., 1952

Literature

Albert Sack, Fine Points of Furniture: Early American, (New York, 1950), p. 157.

Lot Essay

This impressive Queen Anne desk-and-bookcase reveals the superior craftsmanship and cabinetmaking skills available in Boston During the Colonial period. It is the only known early bonnet top example with bun feet, and the compass star inlay suggests a maritime connection to the owner. Elegantly proportioned and rare in form, this desk-and-bookcase was illustrated as "Best" by Albert Sack in Fine Points of Furniture. A related Queen Anne desk-and-bookcase with bracket feet and slimmer proportions is published in Edwin J. Hipkiss, Eighteenth-Century American Arts: The M. and M. Karolik Collection (Cambridge, MA, 1941), pp. 28-30, fig. 18.