Secretary and bookcase

Dateca. 1812

Possibly by James Woodward

MediumMahogany, tulip poplar, white pine, and yellow pine

DimensionsOH: 86 1/4"; OW: 46 1/2"; OD: 22 1/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2005-118

DescriptionAppearance: Glazed front bookcase with chinoiserie style mullions, a parapet composed of a central arched tablet flanked by plinths, flattened sweeps, and plinths at each corner, over a graduated four drawer chest with top secretary drawer; scalloped front and side skirts and tapered bracket feet; drawers, frieze, and parapet decorated with oval and rectangular light woods stringing.

Construction, lower case: Yellow pine top board is attached to three yellow pine battens dovetailed to the sides of the case and is veneered with mahogany along the front and side (yellow pine exposed where the upper case rests); crossbanded mahogany veneer along edge of top and drawer blades; drawer blades of yellow pine with mahogany veneer are slid into dados in case sides from front; yellow pine drawer supports (replaced) nailed to case sides; tulip poplar vertical blocks, nailed to sides at back, act as drawer stops; top secretary drawer is supported at the back by an additional yellow pine batten that is slid into dado in the case sides from the back; yellow pine bottom board is slid into dado in the case sides; the case sides extend to form the shaped side skirt and feet; tulip poplar shaped front skirt is veneered with mahogany and backed by horizontal chamfered glue blocks; feet are supported by tapered vertical glue blocks flanked by the horizontal glue blocks backing the skirt; vertical tulip poplar back boards tongue and groove and half lapped, nailed in rabbet in sides and along top and bottom.
Drawers: tulip poplar back, sides, and bottom boards; yellow pine front veneered with mahogany; sides dovetailed to front and back (no saw kerfs visible); side to side bottom boards chamfered and slid into dadoes in front and sides, nailed along back; additional segmented yellow pine runners glued to bottom at sides (possibly replaced); inside of drawer fronts covered in a pink wash. Small drawers in the secretary drawer composed of tulip poplar sides, back, and bottom, and mahogany front; front to back bottom board (not chamfered) slide into dados in front and sides; not nailed along back edge.

Secretary drawer arranged into three sections: the center section composed of four valenced pigeon holes above a long drawer, all above a space for a long drawer or ledger (no evidence of drawer being used there); two side sections each composed of a long drawer over a tier of three smaller drawers flanked by valenced pigeon holes.

Upper case: top and bottom dovetailed to sides; the inside of the case sides have three groups of three front-to-back grooves for three moveable shelves; frieze and parapet constructed as two separate dovetailed units open along the back; frieze reinforced with 4" long horizontal chamfered glue blocks; cornice molding backed by yellow pine block, is sandwiched between frieze and parapet; parapet screwed to cornice molding with four countersunk screws set in the hollows of the ellipses; central arched tablet is contiguous with the front of the parapet; evidence of five finials along the front of the parapet; mortise and tenon construction of doors with through tenons visible from sides; three vertical tulip poplar backboards joined with tongue and groove joints, nailed in rabbet in sides and along top and bottom; central backboard narrower than other two.
Label TextEarly nineteenth-century cabinetmakers occasionally sold furniture through raffles. A raffle might be a quick way for an artisan to dispose of his goods if he were closing his business. Raffles could also produce more profit and publicity for a new or established cabinetmaker than a traditional sale. One Norfolk entrepreneur shamelessly promoted the raffle of a bedstead in the local newspapers, piquing the reader's interest with sensational statements. In addition to receiving the raffle ticket revenue of $1,400, he also charged a twenty-five cents admission for a special viewing of the wonderful bedstead.

Sarah Sully, who owned this secretary in 1812, taught piano forte and harp to the ladies of Norfolk. Sarah was the younger sister of Norfolk cabinetmaker Chester Sully and the well known portraitist Thomas Sully. Nathan H. Frost who won the secretary for Sarah was Chester's business partner in a Norfolk auction company from April to July, 1812.
InscribedIn black ink on the underside of a small interior desk drawer: "This Secretary is the / property of Sarah Ann Sully / won for her at a Raffel / by Mr. N. H. Frost. Norfolk / June 9th 1812."

In red ink on the underside of a small interior desk drawer "This secretary is believed to have / been before about 1870 in the home of / Rev. James B. Taylor (1804-71), Richmond, Va. / About that date it was brought to / Wake Forest, N.C., where it belonged to / Rev. Mr. Taylor's son, Dr. Charles Elisha / Taylor, president of Wake Forest College, / 1884-1905. After Dr. Taylor's death in / 1915 it passed to his daughters, from / whom it was purchased and brought from the old Taylor home, 305 North / Main Street, Wake Forest, in 1964 by / Christopher Chrittenden, great-grandson of / James B. Taylor, grandson of Charles E. / Taylor, son of Mrs. Ethel Taylor Crittenden. / Christopher Chrittenden / 1537 Caswell Street / Raleigh, N.C. / January 17, 1966 / This secretary is now here [arrow pointing to Raleigh, N.C.]"
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceAn early 19th-century inscription on a small drawer in the writing compartment of this secretary and bookcase records the object's early history. "This Secretary is the / property of Sarah Ann Sully / won for her at a Raffel / by Mr. N. H. Frost. Norfolk / June 9th 1812." Sarah Sully was the younger sister of Norfolk cabinetmaker Chester Sully. In April 1812, Chester Sully and Nathan H. Frost entered into a partnership in the "Auction and Commission and Ship Broker's Line." The firm of "Sully and Frost" was listed with a retail license in the tax records for 1812 and appeared in newspaper advertisements in the Norfolk and Portsmouth Herald during the spring and summer of that year.

In September 1815 the American Beacon and Commercial Diary noted that "Miss Sully, from Richmond, respectfully informs the Ladies of Norfolk, that she will take a few scholars for the Piano Forte and Harp. Orders left at C. Sully & Co.'s store...will be attended to." (Norfolk, Virginia, Sept. 23, 1815, 3-4). This Miss Sully almost certainly is Sarah Sully, Chester's sister.

The secretary and bookcase later descended through the Taylor family from Rev. James B. Taylor (1804-1871) of Richmond, VA, and Wake Forest, NC. A 1966 inscription on the underside of a small interior drawer records its passage from the Rev. James B. Taylor (1804-1871) to his son, Dr. Charles Elisha Taylor, president of Wake Forest College (1884-1905) to his daughter, to her nephew, Christopher Chrittenden (grandson of Charles Elisha Taylor, son of Mrs. Ethel Taylor Chrittenden), who owned it in 1966.

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