Description:
Chippendale slant-front desk in peroba rosa with a reverse-serpentine front. American makers cut the serpentine drawer fronts from solid wood, cutting a corresponding shape on the inside to give the fronts a uniform thickness. The desk lid, which becomes the writing surface, conceals an interior cabinet with four pigeon holes and drawers, with the three drawers on the upper tier each carved with a full sunburst. The body has a slide with a brass ring pull on each side to support the lid; over four graduated long drawers; over a molded base with a center six-ray drop; over four short cabriole legs ending in ball and claw feet with swept-back side talons. The brasses are not original and the knee brackets are replacements. The desk is attributed possibly to Newburyport based on the shape of the center drop, the vertical boards nailed to the rear, the double blocks used as drawer stops, and the configuration of the interior of the writing compartment. The vertical back boards are unusual.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+P.430 |
