Desk and Bookcase
- Object Name:
- Desk and Bookcase
- Object ID:
- 1933.001.14
- Creator:
- Kimball, John (1739-1817) -- Cabinetmaker
- Place of Origin:
- Concord, NH
- Date:
- circa 1800
- Description:
- Desk and Bookcase. Walnut. Slant-front desk with bookcase, latter having flat top, cove-molded cornice and two doors. A panel on each door with stiles and rails having serpentine inner edges. Applied scotia molding around front and side edges of desk top into which bookcase fits. Sloped desk lid constructed with transverse end cleats mitred at one end. Lid, when open, is supported on slides. Four markedly graduated drawers, in main case of desk, framed on the case with beads. Each drawer has two brass handles, each having a bail with bulbous center and a round plate for each post. An oval stamped brass escutcheon on two drawers. A pendent ring handle of brass on each slide. Base having ogee molded upper edge and bottom cut to form four straight bracket feet. Desk interior has a central compartment with drawer below, having a recessed front, and small "pen" drawer above, having scalloped lower edge. On each side of central compartment are four pigeonholes surmounted by two layers of drawers, two drawers below and one above. Pendent ring handles of brass on interior drawers; Two fixed shelves in bookcase. Fronts of shelves grooved near edges to produce simulated beads.
Pencil inscription on interior of drawer bottom of upper left interior drawer: "This desk from Richard Bradley / House of Concord NH." Full bottom boards, on underside of which is written "Bottom" in chalk and on upper surface of which is incised Roman numeral "IIII". Large drawers numbered on backs. Hand-headed cut nails used in drawer construction. Secondary wood of slides birch. Vertical strip of wood added to back of bookcase. Steel locks on all four main drawers and on bookcase and desk lid. Those on drawers obviously replacements. Oval escutcheons formerly accompanying all locks, but now missing except on two drawers. One escutcheon preserved in drawer. Keys separately stored. - Material:
- Wood
Metal - Dimensions:
- H-72.5 W-42 D-22 inches
- Provenance:
- From the home of the donor's great-grandfather, John Bradley (1743-1815) and Hannah Ayer Bradley (1751-1817) of Concord, NH. The house was built by Bradley in 1769 and torn down by the donor in 1912.
Hannah Ayer Bradley was the sister-in-law of Concord cabinetmaker John Kimball (1739-1817), thus suggesting a possible maker of this piece. - Credit Line:
- Gift of Margaret H. Jewell
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