Desk, Slant-Top
- Object Name:
- Desk, Slant-Top
- Object ID:
- 1968.060
- Place of Origin:
- Southeastern New Hampshire or northeastern Massachusetts
- Date:
- circa 1800
- Description:
- Slant-front desk, Chippendale style, said to have belonged to Josiah Bartlett. Maple and figured maple, with white pine secondary wood. 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 bulbous centers. Escutcheon on each drawer of design similar to handle plates but smaller in scale. Brass knob on each slide. Base having scotia molded upper edge and bottom cut to form four straight bracket feet and large central drop having arch cut out at center. Escutcheon on lid matching those on drawers. Desk has stepped interior with two drawers flanking a central compartment on deeper bottom layer. Upper level has two superimposed drawers at center flanked by document drawers, each decorated with an engaged half-round colonnette. At each side of document drawers on upper level are two drawers surmounted by three pigeonholes with scalloped heads. Brass knobs on interior drawers. Sides of case are dovetailed through bottom; projecting ends of dovetails are cut to conform to curves of applied bracket base. Early cut nails used in construction. Steel lock on each of three upper drawers; lower escutcheon "blind," locks attached with clenched cut nails. Replaced brass and steel lock on lid; broken steel catch plate. Drawer sides finished on their upper edges with a bead. Dovetails at backs of interior drawer sides extend beyond backs of drawers. Some of small drawers numbered in pencil on bottoms. Partly legible chalk figures on bottom of one interior drawer. Probably desk interior was formerly stained or painted dark. Key included (stored separately).
- Material:
- Wood
Maple
Pine
Brass
Steel - Dimensions:
- H-42.5 W-37.5 D-18.5 inches
- Provenance:
- Said to have belonged to Josiah Bartlett (1729-95) of Kingston, NH, but may have belonged instead to his son, Levi Bartlett (1763-1828). Bought by Ezra S. Bean (1801-1859) of Fremont at a Bartlett auction for $150, apparently shortly after the death of Levi Bartlett in 1828. Levi Bartlett lived in his father's house and may have been the first owner of the desk. Bean is said to have owned desk nearly 30 years and to have sold it in 1856 or 57 for $150 to Charles W. Follett, also of Fremont. At Follett's death in 1905, it was inherited by his son, Freeman W. Follett, whose relationship to legator (if any) is not known.
- Credit Line:
- Bequest of Julia Cogswell
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