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2023-309, Desk
Desk
2023-309, Desk

Desk

Date1780-1800
Attributed to James Crow
OriginAmerica, Virginia, Mecklenburg County
MediumBlack walnut and yellow pine
DimensionsOverall: 44 3/4 × 42 × 22 3/4in. (113.7 × 106.7 × 57.8cm)
Credit LineGift of Martin and Barbara Yates
Object number2023-309
DescriptionSlant front desk; hinged lid with mitered end battens over four graduated, scratch-beaded drawers, each with original round-bail and rosette brass drawer pulls and inset escutcheon; top drawer flanked by full height scratch- beaded lopers; all over an ogee base molding and straight bracket fee with an ogee shaped knee return; Interior of desk comprised of central prospect door flanked on either side by a divider with a double scratch-bead and four pigeon holes with arched valances; the inner two pigeon holes are over a drawer with a shaped front angled from the prospect forward to meet with a shaped divider between it and a flat front drawer located under the outer two pigeon holes; all over three drawers, stepped forward: one long drawer in the center flanked by a short drawer at each ends under the flat fronted dawers; long plain central drawer topped by a divider with a double scratch-bead.

Construction notes: top of case has blind dovetails with slight bead around edge of desk top at sides; small drawers have standard dovetail construction with front to back oriented bottoms chamfered around the front and sides, in dados in the same, and nailed to the underside of the back with a single nail; drawer bottoms of small drawers extend slightly to act as drawer stops; fronts of small drawers extend slightly to the side at the front edge; large drawers have standard dovetail construction, drawer bottom rabbeted along front and slightly chamfered and rabbeted along sides, in dados in front and sides with runner added along sides; drawer bottoms pegged to underside of drawer back (one nail); drawer supports tenoned to rear of drawer blades and in dados in case sides; fall front joined to mitered battens with three wedged through tenons. rear bracket feet half blind dovetailed brackets; front feet supported by two rounded horizontal blocks and one vertical rectangular block with a coved or hollowed out inner corner most of the way up the foot; rear feet lack the horizontal blocks, proper left rear foot retains its original vertical block with added horizontal blocks; pigeon hole valances secured with three glue blocks, central horizontal block relieved at center so corner would not be visible in arch of valance.
Label TextThis desk is part of a group of mid to late-18th century desks attributed the Rappahannock and Roanoke River Basins. While this example was acquired in Charlottesville, Virginia in the 1970s, near where the Rappahannock River basin desks were thought to have been made, its foot blocking (a vertical block with a coved or hollowed out corner) relates to the group from the Roanoke River Basin (Mecklenburg and Halifax County), Virginia. The desk, with its corbeled interior, is almost identical to the desk and bookcase signed by James Crow and owned by silversmith John Winckler in Mecklenburg County, Virginia and was almost certainly made in the same shop.

Colonial Williamsburg owns a chest of drawers from the same regional shop group with similar but not identical construction (accession #1994-14).
ProvenanceAcquired from a local home or estate sale by an antique dealer (William F. Muller?) near Mitchie's Tavern (Charlottesville, VA); William F. Muller, Mountain Antique Shop, Charlottesville, VA; ca. 1970-2023, purchased by Martin and Barbara Yates (Charlottesville, VA); 2023-present, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)