拍品專文
This desk-and-bookcase relates to an important and well-documented group of Boston case furniture. Group I is categorized according to three different cabinetmakers. The first is comprised of eight desk and bookcases, one desk and four tall case clock cases, and may be further identified by an additional block-front desk signed by cabinetmaker Richard Walker (see Brock Jobe, "A Boston Desk and Bookcase at the Milwaukee Art Museum," Antiques (September 1991), pp. 412-419; for further analysis, see Miller, "Roman Gusto in New England: An Eighteenth Century Furniture Designer and His Shop," American Furniture (Hanover, New Hampshire, 1993), pp. 161-200; see also Zimmerman and Levy, "An Important Block-Front Desk by Richard Walker of Boston," Antiques (March 1995), pp. 436-441). Group II is defined by at least two desk and bookcases whose unknown maker drew from the first group as a source of design inspiration but which are not constructed in the distinctive manner of the first group (see Miller, pp. 196-197, figs. 54 and 55). Finally, the third group is comprised of three desk and bookcases either labelled or signed by Benjamin Frothingham, Jr. (1734-1809), and four desk and bookcases attributed to him (Miller, pp. 191-192). None of the Frothingham group are embellished with applique carving at the tympanum.
The desk-and-bookcase illustrated here combines urbane notions of classicism on fashionable and quintessentially local case construction. The case forms of Group I, made between 1735 and 1755 possibly by Richard Walker and carved by John Welch, comprise the archetypal design to which contemporary and subsequent Boston cabinetmakers aspired even as Walker resolved flaws in translation from design to manufacture. The formula established by Group I combined lush, baroque decoration with a simple architectonic structure. The carved, pierced shell resting on opposing scrolled acanthus leaves at the tympanum and behind the bookcase doors is a leitmotif seen on at least nine other desk and bookcases from all three groups, whether carved or japanned, and is usually seen behind the recessed shells of the bookcase doors. With its single, vertically glue-blocked feet, shallow drawer divides and lopers cut into the top-drawer facade, the construction of the lower case of this desk-and-bookcase is substantively different from those associated with Walker and is typical of standard Boston case construction. The complex manner in which the lower case blocked base molding has been glued together from at least three separate parts may imply a cabinetmaker unfamiliar with blocked furniture, which may further further suggest an earlier date of manufacture. Interestingly, one of the drawer divides of the desk and bookcase illustrated here has been cockbeaded on the reverse, again suggesting that the craftsmen involved in the manufacture of this form may not have been entirely practiced or familiar with its design, further support of an earlier date of manufacture. The partially blocked half-amphitheater of the desk interior also supports an earlier constrution date in comparison to later full-amphitheater desk interiors (Miller, p. 167), or the plainer, less embellished overall case forms credited to Benjamin Frothingham, Jr.
The desk-and-bookcase illustrated here combines urbane notions of classicism on fashionable and quintessentially local case construction. The case forms of Group I, made between 1735 and 1755 possibly by Richard Walker and carved by John Welch, comprise the archetypal design to which contemporary and subsequent Boston cabinetmakers aspired even as Walker resolved flaws in translation from design to manufacture. The formula established by Group I combined lush, baroque decoration with a simple architectonic structure. The carved, pierced shell resting on opposing scrolled acanthus leaves at the tympanum and behind the bookcase doors is a leitmotif seen on at least nine other desk and bookcases from all three groups, whether carved or japanned, and is usually seen behind the recessed shells of the bookcase doors. With its single, vertically glue-blocked feet, shallow drawer divides and lopers cut into the top-drawer facade, the construction of the lower case of this desk-and-bookcase is substantively different from those associated with Walker and is typical of standard Boston case construction. The complex manner in which the lower case blocked base molding has been glued together from at least three separate parts may imply a cabinetmaker unfamiliar with blocked furniture, which may further further suggest an earlier date of manufacture. Interestingly, one of the drawer divides of the desk and bookcase illustrated here has been cockbeaded on the reverse, again suggesting that the craftsmen involved in the manufacture of this form may not have been entirely practiced or familiar with its design, further support of an earlier date of manufacture. The partially blocked half-amphitheater of the desk interior also supports an earlier constrution date in comparison to later full-amphitheater desk interiors (Miller, p. 167), or the plainer, less embellished overall case forms credited to Benjamin Frothingham, Jr.