Description:
Desk-and-bookcase with a molded egg-and-dart and dentil-carved swan's neck pediment ending in flowerhead-carved terminals with a carved dove-like bird in the center; over the tympanum carved with drapery swags; over bands of carving; two door with elaborate geometric inlay designs flanked by carved and inlaid columns; over the desk with its inlaid cover and four graduated drawers with brass pulls; over four carved bracket feet, which is attributed to Cotton White (ca. 1774-1826) of Hatfield, Massachusetts. The work on this secretary matches that of the chest-on-chest (54.175) which descended in the Billings family of Deerfield and Hatfield. White's surviving work is represented by large pieces of case furniture made for wealthy patrons in western Massachusetts at the end of the 18th century. White's signature (and the date "1795") was found found on a clockcase made for a clock by Isaac Gere (1771-1812) of Northampton, Massachusetts, which served to document his work with its lattice-work inlay, carved columns and feet, and a dove-like finial. Merchants, who kept ledgers and wrote receipts for goods purchased and sold, used large desks-and-bookcases as a kind of safe and as a work area. For this desk-and-bookcase, Cotton White borrowed from the vocabulary of classicism to create ornament like the stop-fluted columns with Corinthian capitals in the bottom section. More importantly, he incorporated the mathematical proportions of classicism to link the parts together, using the principles of the ancient golden section, which prescribes that the shorter line is to the longer line as the longer line is to the whole. The ratio is 5:8. In 1967, the antiques dealer, Ginsburg & Levy of NYC were selling a similar secretary with a similar carved bird which came from the Holton family of Northfield, Massachusetts; and in 1990, Sotheby's sold a similarly carved chest-on-chest attributed to White, which descended in the the Stoddard family of Northampton. The drawers behind the fall front are cherry and the four pilasters are applied carved mahogany. The top of the bookcase interior, bookcase interior sides and bonnet are white pine. The desk drawers are white pine and mahogany. The inlay is a mixture of light and dark woods.
Label Text:
Hatfield woodworker, Cotton White, followed traditional Georgian design principles to proportion this desk and bookcase that he probably made for a member of the Billings family of Hatfield. White combined decorative elements popular since the 1740s, such as carved bracket feet, chamfered pilasters, and deep cornice moldings, with neoclassical embellishments, including carved swags and checkerboard inlay that mimics the shape of muntins in glazed bookcase doors. The result, a blending of old and new, offered a bold statement of confidence about the future of rural society where change was tempered by tradition.
Apparently skilled as both a blacksmith and cabinetmaker, White was also an inventor. His 1826 estate inventory listed patents for “a machine for making wheels” and a lathe to turn broom handles.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+1232 |
