Desk and Bookcase

Maker, attributed to: Daniel Spencer (1741–1796)

1772–90

American Decorative Arts

On view, 1st floor, American Decorative Arts before 1900

The imposing proportions of many American eighteenth-century case pieces give them a pronounced architectural character. On this desk and bookcase, the blocking on the drawer fronts continues through the concave and convex carved shells on the slant top of the desk and the doors of the bookcase. Fluted quarter-columns and a scrolled pediment with urn-shaped finials frame this facade. The desk was made for John Brown, a Providence, Rhode Island, merchant.

Medium

Mahogany; light-colored, possibly Honduran or Santo Domingan, mahogany; fluted quarter columns, cornice moldings, finials, front of writing slide and drawer dividers, base molding, feet, much darker, possibly Cuban, mahogany; interior of bookcase and sides, backs, and bottoms of pigeonhole valance drawers, American black cherry (previously published many times as yellow poplar); drawer linings, with one exception, other elements, chestnut; bottom of bottom desk drawer, other elements, eastern white pine; some repairs, yellow pine

Dimensions

107 1/4 × 44 11/16 × 25 3/16 in. (272.4 × 113.5 × 64 cm)
open: 37 3/8 in. (94.9 cm)
upper case: 39 5/8 × 12 5/8 in. (100.7 × 32.1 cm)
lower case: 41 5/8 × 23 3/16 in. (105.8 × 58.9 cm)

Credit Line

Mabel Brady Garvan Collection

Accession Number

1940.320

Geography

Made in Providence, Rhode Island

Culture

American

Period

18th century

Classification

Furniture

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
John Brown (1736–1803), Providence, R. I.; by descent to his great granddaughter, Caroline L. Chesebrough (Mrs. Ebenezer Stanton Chesebrough , née Caroline L. Herreshoff, 1837–1924) , Bristol, R.I. [see note 1]; sold to Collings and Collings, New York, 1918; sold to Francis P. Garvan (1875–1937), New York, 1918; by descent to his wife, Mabel Brady Garvan (1886–1979); given to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, 1940

Note 1: Caroline Chesebrough noted in a letter dated September 14, 1918: "It [the desk and bookcase] belonged to my great-grandfather John Brown of Providence, one of the 'four Brown brothers,' for whom it was made in 1785. Each of his brothers ordered one at the same time, Nicholas, Moses & Joseph, all noted men in their day."
Bibliography
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  • Helen A. Cooper et al., Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2008), 201, no. 106, ill.
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  • Margaretta M. Lovell, Art in a Season of Revolution: Painters, Artisans, and Patrons in Early America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005), fig. X
  • Dennis Andrew Carr, American Colonial Furniture: Guide to the Collection, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2004), 10–11, 16, fig. 20
  • Susan B. Matheson, Art for Yale: A History of the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2001), 92–93, fig. 82
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  • Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport: The Townsends and Goddards (Tenafly, N.J.: MMI Americana Press, 1984), 302, 325, fig. 8.16, 8.16a–c
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  • Andrew Carnduff Ritchie and Katherine Neilson, Selected Paintings and Sculpture from the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1972), n.p., introduction, ill.
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Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

Inscriptions

“1” through “4,” in graphite, on interior sides [at front corners] and interior backs of proper-right drawers of interior desk; “5” and “6 7,” in graphite, on interior sides and interior backs of cabinet drawers of interior desk; “7” through “10,” in graphite, on interior sides [at front corners] and interior backs of proper-left drawers of interior desk; illegible chalk [sometimes in shape of a “C” or an arc], on exterior drawer backs of interior desk drawers; “C [or arc] I” and “C [or arc] II,” in chalk, on exterior backs of cabinet drawers of interior desk; “1” through “6,” in graphite, on interior sides [at front corners] of valance drawers [“5” written as “V”]; “I” through “VI,” stamped on interior backs of valance drawers [“IV” stamped as “IIII”]; “A” through “C,” in graphite, written on interior backs of exterior drawers; "1" or “I [for interior?],” in graphite, on interior sides [at front corners] of exterior drawers; "Bottom," in chalk, on the underside of desk; "COLLINGS & COLLINGS / Antiques / 528 Amsterdam Ave. / NEW YORK," printed in blue letters on a white octagonal label with a blue border glued to underside of middle exterior desk drawer, on top of corresponding dust board, on proper-right interior desk side, and on underside of desk bottom

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