1780-1810
GUSN-171714
Chest of drawers with fall front. Birch with white pine secondary wood. Interior of upper case has eight pigeonholes and nine drawers. Top central drawer features a carved shell. Oxbow drawer facade with round blocking on top drawer. Scalloped skirt with shell-carved central drop. Ogee knee brackets terminate in heavy claw and ball feet.
slant-front desks
desks
birch (wood)
eastern white pine (wood)
Chippendale
Desk, Slant-top
Produced in coastal Essex County, Massachusetts, about 1780-1810, this desk stood in the home of Richard Lakeman, a fisherman, ship captain, and trader from Ipswich. The desk attests to the duration in popularity of the oxbow desk with claw feet, which remained fashionable for years after the American Revolution. While the carved central drop and ball and claw feet were expensive additions, the desk is made of birch stained to look like mahogany, a cost saving measure that made the piece more affordable.
"Liz Lakeman"
"GRL"
B129
Unknown
44 x 45 x 22 1/2 (HxWxD) (inches)
Gift of Arthur W. Johnson
1948.705
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