Description:
This exceptionally tall secretary was made for the Hartford, Connecticut, home of Daniel Wadsworth (1771-1848). It illustrates the evolving understanding of cabinetmaking in the central Connecticut River Valley during the Federal period made possible by the discovery of previously unknown primary source materials, and recent studies of the area’s cabinetmakers. The ledger of Lemuel Adams (1769-1850), discovered in 2016, reveals that the prestigious Hartford cabinetmaking firm of Kneeland & Adams made just two secretaries (out of over 600 pieces of furniture produced) during their brief but prolific partnership (1792-1795). Both were ordered by Hartford, residents: one by Dr. Joseph Lynde (1749-1829) in 1793, and the other by Wadsworth in 1794. In 2017, the Kneeland & Adams research team located what are likely the two secretaries made by the firm, both with an unusual but identical muntin design on the bookcase doors. The origin of the muntin design is plate 27 from Thomas Sheraton's The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book, first published in installments between 1791 and 1793. Both are exceptionally tall and share a number of construction characteristics and materials. The Kneeland & Adams research team has yet to identify any additional secretaries made in New England with an identical muntin design. Research conducted by the team led to information supporting the theory that this secretary was made by Kneeland & Adams for Wadsworth. This secretary bears a typed label in one of its drawers identifying it as: “Wadsworth Desk/Owned by/Mr. Daniel Wadsworth/James B. Shultas 1805-1880/Mrs. Lewis D. Parker/Mrs. Walter S. Haynes.” On October 19, 1794, Kneeland & Adams noted the sale of a secretary to Wadsworth for £11. Wadsworth died on July 28, 1848, and the inventory of his property by his estate’s executors lists one "large secretary" and assessed its value at $12. His executors then liquidated the majority of his assets. The resulting auction took place over two days in August and September of 1848. Sale records indicate that while two of the three secretaries sold, the “large secretary” in the library, again valued at $12, went unsold. While this piece was appropriate for the high-ceilinged rooms in Wadsworth’s mansion (demolished in 1932), it is possible that the secretary did not sell because of its height. William Imlay (1780-1858) inhabited Wadsworth’s house after his death. Imlay died an insolvent debtor in 1858, and his estate was sold to pay his debts. James Babcock Shultas (1805-1880) purchased the secretary at Imlay’s 1858 estate auction. After Shultas’ death, the secretary descended in his family. Before the discovery of the Adams ledger, veneered furniture was not thought to have been made in Hartford County during the Federal period. The area was also not associated with such ambitious, large case pieces. It was also not known that both Samuel Kneeland and Adams came from, and probably trained in the Boston area. It therefore is not surprising that a secretary made by the Seymour shop in Boston (now in the collection of the MFA Boston) around the same time as this piece is its most comparable case piece. This secretary’s size, unusual four-part design, chevron-pattern inlay, and sophisticated tambour cabinet front make it a superlative example of late eighteenth-century Hartford furniture.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2018.19 |
