Images(8)

Desk and Bookcase

Date1740-1755

Attributed to Peter Scott

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Williamsburg

MediumBlack walnut, oak, and yellow pine.

DimensionsOH: 84" OD: 24 1/2" OW: 42 1/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1990-219

DescriptionAppearance: Upper case--molded cornice above two raised arched panel doors (replaced) secured to case with reproduction off set hinges; reproduction escutcheons on bookcase doors; three adjustable shelves with double bead molding along front edge slide into grooves in the bookcase sides. Lower case--Desk with lockable hinged fallboard concealing a writing/storage interior; fallboard lock possesses original brass escutcheon; writing interior features a long central drawer flanked by two smaller drawers with square prospect drawer centered above; four pigeon holes above two drawers flank prospect; central drawer blade is double beaded and partitions possess rounded edges; bottom drawers rest upon quarter round molding; lockable prospect door swings on clock hinges and features walnut cross banding, conceals a central shelf; central shelf slides outward revealing a hidden removable drawer and is secured by a sliding wooden latch set in groove on shelf underside. Case front composed of four graduated drawers; each possesses quarter round lip molding and original brasses; top drawer flanked by fallboard supports retaining original brass knobs; base molding features a quarter round profile supported by bracket feet (rear feet and blocking replaced).

Construction: bookcase--yellow pine top dovetailed to walnut sides; bottom primarily of yellow pine with butt joined walnut strip along front edge (2 1/2" wide); bottom secured to sides with large (2" long pins) through dovetails; horizontal walnut strip secured to bottom front with nails and three yellow pine glue blocks; cornice nailed to front and sides; rear paneled back, consisting of three stiles tenoned and pegged into the upper and lower rails with panels set in dados, set into rabbits and nailed in place; ledger strips for shelves cut from solid case sides; three shelves comprised of walnut strip faced with double beads butt joined to yellow pine boards; walnut door rails and stiles mortised and tenoned and secured with four pegs; arched panels (reproduced) set into tongue and groove joints.

DESK: walnut sides secured to yellow pine top and bottom with through dovetails; interior walnut writing surface, walnut drawer blades, and solid yellow pine dustboards dovetailed with sliding dovetails into sides; dovetail joints along front edge of sides concealed beneath two vertical walnut strips glued and nailed into place; walnut partitions between fallboard support guides glued into grooves; fallboard supports also yellow pine with protruding interior dowel stoppers faced with 1/4" thick molded walnut; horizontal yellow pine interior backboard rail dovetailed into sides at rear of first drawer cavity; walnut drawer fronts, yellow pine sides and rear dovetailed together; drawer bottoms (comprising two yellow pine boards) set into rabbets along front and sides and secured with nails; yellow pine strips glued under rabbets along sides; drawer fronts lipped along top and sides; base molding glued and nailed to bottom and sides; full length glue blocks on underside of case add support to base molding; bracket feet rabbeted at corners and glued to base support case and brackets; paneled yellow pine back, consistent with construction of bookcase back nailed in rabbits along sides and top. Walnut fallboard features two 3 3/4" wide battens secured vertically with tongue and groove joints and mitered top corners; fallboard swings on two original brass hinges; drawers rest on 3 1/2" deep walnut molding glued to top of interior writing surface and butt joined to a solid yellow pine dust board supported on yellow pine supports set into dadoes in case sides and likely tenoned to the rear of the walnut writing surface and through the interior backboard rail; partitions, employing usual construction methods are slid from rear into dadoes; walnut drawer fronts and oak sides dovetailed together with oak bottoms set into rabbits and nailed along sides; hidden compartment drawer of oak with dovetail construction possessing unusual top handle set into notches.
Label TextMany of the cabinetmakers who worked in Williamsburg were born and trained in Britain. The most enduring of these was Peter Scott. Born about 1694, Scott probably finished his apprenticeship by 1717. Records show that he resided in Williamsburg by 1722 and was still making furniture there when he died at age 81 in 1775.

Scott practiced his trade in a rented shop across Duke of Gloucester Street from Bruton Parish Church for 43 years. There he advertised in 1755 that he had for sale "sundry Pieces of Cabinet Work, of Mahogony and Walnut, consisting of Desks, Book-Cases, [and] Tables of various Sorts..." Like many cabinetmakers trained at the beginning of the eighteenth century, Scott concentrated on case furniture and tables, leaving chairmaking to other artisans. His neighbor, James Spiers, sometimes provided chairs to customers who patronized Scott for their tables and case goods.

Scott's construction methods and choice of woods strongly suggest that he trained in an urban British cabinet shop during the first two decades of the eighteenth century. Although Scott adopted some stylistic changes over time, much of his work is dramatically consistent in form from one decade to the next. The elaboration of the desk interiors evolved from his earliest examples with early baroque style stepped interiors to later neat and plain arrangements like this example.
Inscribed"817" in chalk and other illegible chalk marks on rear of bookcase.
ProvenanceAccording to collector and restorer Peyton Collie (in a September 8, 2014 email), this desk and bookcase was purchased by Williamsburg collector Tom Wood from Mrs. William C. Kelley of Gloucester, Virginia. Wood sold the piece to Collie, who began but did not complete restoration of the missing door panels. Collie placed the piece with Joe Wilkinson for resale. It was purchased by dealer Sumpter Priddy, who sold it to CWF. Collie believes that the desk and bookcase had "been in Gloucester, VA for a long time."

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