Federal Inlaid and Figured Mahogany Secretary Bookcase

Object Details

Related Objects

Federal Inlaid and Figured Mahogany Linen Press

Allison, Michael
ca. 1800-1810

wood; mahogany; mahogany veneer; eastern white pine; yellow-poplar; satinwood veneer

Chippendale Carved Mahogany Five-Legged Card Table

Unknown
ca. 1760-1790

wood; mahogany; red oak; yellow-poplar; hickory

Object Essay

Similar in form to the New York linen press in the Department of State Collection (see Acc. No. 66.111), this desk and bookcase is rather conservative, both in overall design and in decoration. According to family history, it was part of the furnishings of George Washington’s headquarters in New York City, and many of those objects were reportedly given to Colonel Richard Varick, Washington’s Recording Secretary and Chief of Staff. Members of the Kissam family, who owned the desk until it was sold at auction, were descendants of Varick. (See Acc. No. 75.25 for another Varick family piece.)

Although the use of inlays on the drawers, doors, pediment, and plinth suggests a late 18th-century date for this desk and bookcase, it is related in overall form to one illustrated in Thomas Chippendale’s Director.^{1_{Chippendale, pl. CVII.}} The massiveness, frontality, and restraint of the design and such details as the bracket feet, broken-arch pediment, and square plinth all reflect a style popular in England and America since the mid-18th century.

In a piece of furniture intended for heavy use, surface details were less significant to the customer than practicality. Here, the largely unadorned, veneered mahogany surfaces are relieved by contrasting light inlays in floral, star-shaped, and geometric designs. The fitted desk drawer, with gracefully carved pigeonholes and extensive use of satinwood, adds depth and color to a relatively sober, stately piece of furniture.^{2_{The feet were extended by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities Conservation Lab based on a chest at Winterthur (Acc. no. 53.57).}}

Page Talbott

Excerpted from Clement E. Conger, et al. Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1991.