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Desk and bookcase of mahogany, inlaid with wavy birch and bird's eye maple. Top bookcase section has two glass doors with wooden tracery. Brass eagle and urn finials. Bottom desk section has top drawer with fall front. Drawer interior has hidden interior drawers and divided compartments. Desk drawers have ivory escutcheons and brasses with floral motif.
desks and bookcases
mahogany (wood)
bird's-eye maple
ivory (tooth component)
brass (alloy)
veneering
inlay (process)
glass (material)
Federal
Desk, Drop-front
Centennial Acquisitions Exhibiton, October 22nd-23rd, 30th-31st, 2010:Sarah Orne Jewett sat at this desk to write the stories for which she is still celebrated today. Situated on the second-floor hall landing of Jewetts South Berwick home, the desk overlooked the towns busy crossroads that provided the author with material for her books. Most likely, the desk originally belonged to Jewetts grandfather. It bears the makers mark of Joseph Murphy, a South Berwick cabinetmaker whose account book survives at the Portsmouth Athenaeum.
"JOSEPH MURPHY" (impressed)
"[illegible letters] 12/25/53" (Red pen)
Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909
Original To Sarah Orne Jewett House (South Berwick, Me.),
40.2
Murphy, Joseph, 1796-1872 (Cabinetmaker)
South Berwick, Maine
73 1/4 x 42 1/4 x 20 1/2 (HxWxD) (inches)
Museum Purchase
2009.26.2
1829 (per June 12, 1829 ledger)
Maine (United States)
South Berwick (York county, Maine)
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