Desk
- Object Name:
- Desk
- Object ID:
- 1974.012
- Creator:
- Kimball, John (1739-1817)
Cabinetmaker - Place of Origin:
- Derryfield, NH
- Date:
- 1762
- Description:
- Desk. Made by John Kimball (1739-1817), Derryfield (now Manchester), NH, 1762. Sloped lid constructed with transverse end cleats and supported on slides when open. Four markedly graduated drawers with molded edges. Each drawer has two brass handles with elaborately shaped plates and bails having slightly bulbous centers. An escutcheon matching handle plates on each drawer. A brass knob on each slide. Base having scotia molded upper edge and bottom cut to form four straight bracket feet and central drop. Escutcheon on lid matching those on drawers. Lower three drawer escutcheons smaller than those on lid and uppermost drawer. Desk interior has five drawers of various widths surmounted by a series of paired pigeonholes alternating with vertically oriented drawers. The pigeonholes and vertical drawers are separated by elaborately scrolled partitions. The arched heads of the pigeonholes are echoed in applied ornamental arches at tops of outermost vertical drawers. Most of the interior drawers have elaborately shaped fronts with convex and concave sections, projecting and receding in different planes. Small brass knobs on interior drawers. The pair of pigeonholes at center are removable, revealing two hidden drawers, each shallow but full-width and having gouged finger grips on front. Large painted inscription on outer surface of backboards: "February / 23rd. 1762. / John Kimball." Illegible pencil inscription also on back. Numerous inscriptions on interior drawers: "Stark" and "Caleb," incised; "5 / 10" in chalk; and "5 / 10 / [Thos]", "Adelisabeth-St Ark", "Adelizabeth St Arks / __", and "Adelisabeth Parsons [de Seidlits]" all in ink. All above inscriptions in early handwriting style. Numerous abstract marks also incised on interior drawers. Interior drawers numbered in pencil on bottoms. Full bottom board. Dovetails at backs of four main drawers extend beyond drawer backs. A brass and steel lock on lid with steel catch plate. A steel lock on each of three upper drawers; lower escutcheon "blind." Feather-edged backboards let into grooves. The two hidden drawers each made from a single piece of wood. False bottom in one vertical drawer, with secret compartment accessible from back. Key compartment in left lid support. Dovetails pinned on front of case.
- Material:
- Wood
Brass
Metal - Dimensions:
- H-43.875 W-35.5 D-18.875 inches
- Provenance:
- Desk descended in the family of General John Stark (1728-1822), born Derryfield, NH, and Elizabeth Page Stark, married 1758, and residents of Dunbarton, NH. The desk was sold in 1961 at the estate auction of John McNeil Stark of Concord, NH, a direct descendant of General Stark. In 1972 Marvin E. Hatch (1909-1984), an antiques dealer from Hartland, VT, put the desk in an auction conducted by Parke Bernet Galleries (NY), who sold it to Philip Bradley, Co. of Downingtown, PA, from whom NHHS purchased the desk in 1974.
Fanciful ink inscriptions probably added by either Elizabeth (Page) Stark, the General's wife, or their daughter Elizabeth (Stark) Cameron (b. 1771). - Credit Line:
- New Hampshire Historical Society Purchase
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