Images(8)

Secretary and Bookcase

Dateca. 1800

OriginAmerica, Georgia, Augusta (possibly)

MediumBlack walnut, yellow pine, tulip poplar, and lightwood inlay

DimensionsOverall: 100 1/2 × 47 × 23 3/4in. (255.3 × 119.4 × 60.3cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, TIF Foundation in memory of Michelle A. Iverson and The Sara and Fred Hoyt Furniture Fund

Object number2021-9

DescriptionAppearance: Secretary and bookcase with figured and inlaid removable cornice with rectangular central tablet and rectangular plinths at each corner inlaid with oval veneer; facia boards between tablet and plinths shaped as inverted arches; two doors on bookcase with inset oval panels, veneer, and line inlay, opening to adjustable shelved interior, lower case with secretary drawer consisting of three inlaid long drawers over a central section with four arched pigeon holes over one long drawer flanked on either side by sections with four short drawers flanked by two tall arched pigeon holes, three graduated drawers below secretary drawer, scalloped skirt and French feet.

Construction
Lower case:
Three sub-top battens are half-blind dovetailed to case sides; front batten is walnut, other two are yellow pine; top screwed to battens from underside; top outlined in lightwood stringing on corners sandwiching cross banded edges; two narrow blocks nailed at top of proper right inner side between sub top battens (to prevent secretary drawer from tipping?); full depth yellow pine dust board with thin walnut facing below secretary drawer in dado in case sides; two round holes in dust board to allow access to wooden springs that release secretary drawer from case; walnut drawer blades for second and third drawers in dados in case sides; drawer stops (replaced) glued to tops of drawer blades; drawer supports tenoned into short dados in rear of drawer blades and in dados in case sides; yellow pine case bottom board with narrow walnut board at front in dado or possibly sliding dovetail in case sides; veneered front skirt glued to underside of case bottom; solid walnut front feet separate from front skirt; case sides extend to floor as feet with small wedges glued to facade at bottom of foot to create flair; numerous shaped chamfered glue blocks between the front and side skirts and case bottom; short yellow pine boards glued at rear corners of underside of case bottom; angled yellow pine rear bracket feet in rabbets in side of side bracket foot at rear, nailed to underside of board, and reinforced with vertical block in corner of proper left rear foot (missing on proper right); one narrow yellow pine central backboard nailed to rear of sub-top and case bottom; two wide tulip poplar vertical backboards nailed to rear of sub-top and backboard, nailed in rabbet in sides, and slightly chamfered in dado in central backboard; base molding bead in dado in sides and front.

Secretary Drawer: yellow pine top, fronted with narrow walnut board, dovetailed and nailed (nails possibly added) to tops of sides; yellow pine bottom fronted by full depth walnut board dovetailed to sides at yellow pine section; sides extend lower than bottom board; walnut bottom board in dado in sides; full depth runners and segmented runners along sides but set in from dovetails; backboard nailed to rear edges of top and bottom; two wooden spring locks nailed into rectangular relieved sections on underside of bottom; drawer front hinged with brass butt hinges to front of walnut drawer bottom and quadrant hinges to sides; front and bottom notched at bottom of front and front of bottom to lap together when open; interior lined with thin yellow pine boards with walnut double beaded fronts; interior partitions, yellow pine fronted with walnut, dadoed to top, bottom, sides, and each other.

Small drawers: tulip poplar secondary wood, standard dovetail construction; drawer bottom in dados in sides and front, nailed to underside of back.

Large drawers: Standard dovetail construction; cockbead in rabbets around drawer front; side to side oriented bottom boards in dado in front and sides, nailed to underside of backboard; segmented glue blocks on bottom along sides.

Bookcase:
Top and bottom half blind dovetailed to sides; yellow pine top board; yellow pine bottom board with front of walnut; walnut front section extends in front of sides and is rabbeted along entire length to create door stop; rounded mid molding nailed to sides and front at bottom; 17 ledger strips cut into interior of sides with slight bead on front edge of ledger strips and remaining interior of sides; three yellow pine shelves with walnut double scratch beaded front edges; two side and one central yellow pine narrow backboards nailed to rear of top and bottom and to rabbet in sides; two tulip poplar wide backboards nailed to rear edge of top and bottom and in dados in yellow pine backboards; doors joined to case sides with two pairs of brass butt hinges; bookcase screwed through bottom board into top of lower case.

Doors: rails tenoned through stiles and wedged; panels in dados in rails and stiles; panels recessed from rear face of doors; quarter round molding on inside edges of rear faces of rails and stiles; veneered façade of doors creating large ovals applied to front of doors and screwed to panel from rear; inner edge of oval cross banded; proper left door has bead applied in rabbet along inner edge; proper right door has top and bottom brass thumb bolts inset in inner edge; lock mortised into rear of proper left door.

Cornice: yellow pine rectangular cornice frame is dovetailed together at corners; front to back medial batten is dovetailed and nailed to underside of frame at center; one-piece cornice moldings are face glued to front and sides of frame, mitered at corners; thin boards with molded edge are glued to underside of front and side frame, mitered at corners; plinths are glued and nailed on top of cornice molding at corners; center tablet is glued to top center of cornice molding with segmented chamfered glue blocks along back and extra board across top, chamfered on sides, to support top; plinth and tablet tops with rounded edges are glued and nailed to tops of plinths; shaped boards between plinths and tablet are in dados in sides of plinths and tablet and are supported by glue blocks at the same and in center; frame, cornice, tablet, and plinths veneered and or inlaid; cornice attached to top of bookcase with screws in pockets in sides of frame and through medial batten.
Label TextWith its sophisticated, neoclassical design, this secretary and bookcase resembles furniture from the seaport of Charleston, South Carolina. However, its execution in local black walnut and yellow pine suggests inland production, where more stylish tropical mahogany and New England white pine was costly and harder to obtain.

Artisans in the Georgia Piedmont often looked to coastal cities for inspiration. The unknown maker of this piece based his secretary (or writing) drawer on the same British pattern book that inspired the drawer in a Charleston clothespress shown in the Lowcountry section of this exhibition. He apparently was also familiar with the work of Charleston cabinetmaker Robert Walker, who employed unusual, nearly identical recessed oval door panels like these. Indeed, he may well have worked in a Charleston shop before moving west to make fashionable furniture for the Piedmont gentry.
InscribedProper right lower case backboard has large oval scratched into back.
Chalk on underside of lower case bottom may read “Bottom”
Small drawers in secretary drawer numbered on drawer bottoms in chalk, 1-12.