A FEDERAL INLAID MAHOGANY AND BIRD'S-EYE MAPLE BUREAU

LABELLED BY WILLIAM SINCLAIR, FLOWERTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, CIRCA 1803

Details

A FEDERAL INLAID MAHOGANY AND BIRD'S-EYE MAPLE BUREAU
Labelled by William Sinclair, Flowertown, Pennsylvania, circa 1803
The rectangular top with banded edge above a conforming case fitted with one long drawer with line inlaid oval panels opening to reveal a compartmented interior with writing surface and one large valanced pigeonhole with mirrored sides and an inlaid foliate medallion flanked by columns further flanked by eight drawers and eight valanced pigeonholes, each centering an inlaid column document drawer, all over three long graduated drawers with line inlay above a shaped skirt, on French feet, the label inside one short drawer WILLIAM SINCLAIR,/Cabinet Maker,/FLOWERTON./1803., together with an associated inlaid mahogany bookcase
43½in. high, 44½in. wide, 22in. deep

Lot Essay

The Flowertown, Pennsylvania cabinetmaker William Sinclair was first documented when the present bureau was illustrated in Antiques (October 1929), p. 298. Little is known of Sinclair's life, but he apparently moved in 1819 from Flowertown to Philadelphia, where he is recorded as a cabinetmaker until 1837. A related labelled bureau with the distinctive arcaded interior but lacking the mirrored and inlaid central "theater" is illustrated in Ketchum, Jr., American Cabinetmakers, Marked American Furniture, 1640-1940 (New York, 1995), p. 312.

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