Rectangular slant top desk, two sliding lid supports. Four graduated drawers; molded bracket feet. Interior fitted with nine small cubby holes and eight short drawers. Back of one drawer chalked "IISGSS." Paper label on third drawer "mahogany desk from the Abraham Browne Watertown Mass." Chippendale style brasses.
slant-front desks
desks
cherry (wood)
mahogany (wood)
pine (wood)
Desk, Slant-top
Although made of costly mahogany, this desk features a more economical flat façade rather than a fashionable, labor-intensive oxbow or serpentine one. We believe belonged to Adam Browne (1763-1827) of Watertown, a town a few miles west of Boston. The lid of the desk provided Browne with ample space to read and write, and the interior of the upper case offered many small drawers and rows of pigeonholes in which to store small belongings. Its maker remains unknown, but its construction and stylistic details tie it to towns near the Boston area. The pigeonhole partitions, arch design, and drawer configuration resemble the work of Charlestown, Massachusetts, cabinetmakers Benjamin Frothingham, Archelaus Flint, and Samuel S. Noyes.
Browne, Abraham
11.1941
Unknown
42 7/8 x 42 7/8 (HxW) (inches)
Gift of Mabel L. Josselyn
1966.509
Massachusetts (United States)
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