Images(4)

Secretary

Dateca. 1820

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Norfolk (possibly)

MediumMahogany and tulip poplar

DimensionsOH: 48"; OW: 43 5/8"; D (closed): 21 7/16"; OD (open): 39 1/4"

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Leonard in memory of Ruth and Homer Bartley

Object number2012-155

DescriptionAppearance: chest of four drawers with top secretary drawer; lower three drawers graduated; all drawers veneered and cockbeaded; top secretary drawer also has wide veneered band around perimeter of drawer front; top of chest overhangs front and sides with straight crossbanded veneered edge; two boxes with single small drawers sit at either end of top with arched backsplash (replaced) between them; small drawer fronts veneered and cockbeaded; top of boxes rounded on edges and slightly overhangs front and sides; sides of chest have flat, recessed panels within a rail and stile framework; turned feet (rear feet replaced) cut down; front feet have remnant of double ring turning; secretary drawer front hinged on brass quadrant hinges from shaped sides; interior of fixed and moveable writing surface covered partially in green baize; interior composed of long center drawer over four pigeon holes with flattened arched valances flanked by tier of three drawers at either end; interior drawers have brass knob pulls; exterior drawers have round wooden knobs (replaced).

Construction: Supporting the top, three rails (front, medial and back) are dovetailed respectively into the front stiles, upper side rails and rear stiles. The rails are of yellow pine with the leading edge of the front rail mahogany veneered. Above these rails and screwed to them from the underside, is a frame consisting of two side rails and two medial rails tenoned into a front and back rail. Glued and face nailed to this frame, is a ¼" mahogany panel that forms the top and extends 2 ½"on either side under the inside edge of the end boxes where, at the front, it abuts a matching 2 ½" wide mahogany extension to the corner which is miter-joined to an additional matching panel that runs front to back and forms the side edges of the top. These pieces run under the edges of the end boxes. A poplar board of matching width is nailed to the frame under the back edge of each box. Visible edges of the pine frame are mahogany veneered. The result is the appearance of a solid mahogany top. The void under each box, resulting from the pieced-in mahogany, is filled with a loose poplar board resting on the supporting rails.

The yellow pine upper and lower rails of the side panels are tenoned into the stiles. The resulting frame is mahogany veneered with the inner edges dadoed to receive a single board recessed mahogany panel.

Like the top, front, medial and back rails that support the bottom are dovetailed to the stiles and rails of the case. Screwed to those rails from the underside is an assembly of two side rails tenoned into a front rail into which the turned feet are double-tenoned. This assembly also serves to support poplar boards that fill the void between the three rails directly above to form the bottom. The poplar boards are additionally supported by rectangular blocks glued to the three rails.

The three drawer blades are either set in sliding dovetails or dados. Behind them drawer guides are nailed into rabbets in the stiles and drawer supports are nailed to the guides. Rectangular drawer stops are glued into the corner formed by back and stiles.

The back consists of two horizontal butt-joined poplar boards chamfered on the back of the side and bottom edges to fit into dodos in the sides and bottom. A full width chamfered batten is screwed to the boards to reinforce the butt joint.
On the secretary drawer, the top is half-dovetailed to the sides, the bottom set in dados in the sides, the back nailed into rabbets in the sides and butt joined and nailed to the top and bottom. The fixed writing surface is joined to the extended sides with half-hidden dovetails, and the extended sides at the front are compass-hinged to the veneered fallboard. Vertical dividers and full depth drawer blades are set in dados in the top and bottom of the compartmentalized sections and each other. Pigeon-hole dividers are set in miter-dados. Valances are secured with glue blocks. Sides, interior drawer fronts and valances are mahogany, other exposed surfaces are veneered.

Exterior drawers are of standard dovetail construction, front dovetails however are smaller and more refined that those in the rear of the drawers. Bottoms are chamfered on the underside to fit into dados in the front and sides, and nailed from below to the bottom edge of the back. Exterior drawer fronts are veneered. The interior drawers are of the same basic construction, however the bottoms have not been chamfered while the drawer fronts are solid mahogany while the fronts of the exterior drawers are veneered.

On the two boxes screwed to the top of the case, the upper and lower front rails are dovetailed to the sides (all are yellow pine with mahogany veneer); the poplar back is also dovetailed to the sides; the mahogany top is glued to the upper edge of the sides, upper front rail and back, with poplar strips nailed to the sides immediately under the top that run almost the full length. Drawer runners of poplar are nailed to the sides. There is no bottom as the back and lower front rail are screwed to the top frame of the case.
Label TextThis secretary has a history of having been owned in two Williamsburg, Virginia families during the mid to late 19th century. The construction and design of the piece suggests that it may have been made in Norfolk where quite a bit of furniture of this style was produced during the early years of the 19th century.
InscribedOn the underside of one of the small drawers is written in chalk, "Mary/ Morris/ [?] of/ Al[ex or a]/ Mary/ Cosnahan". Mary Cosnahan appears to have been written by a different by contemporary hand to the rest of the inscription.
ProvenanceThis secretary and a second desk now owned by the donor's brother was given to donor's father in Roanoke, Virginia by an Episcopal priest, Van Garrett (b.c.1901) in the early to mid 20th century. Van Garrett, son of Van F. and Harriet Garrett, was originally from Williamsburg, having grown up in the Grissell Hay House (Van Garrett House). His grandfather was Dr. Robert Major Garrett (1808-1885) who lived in the Coke-Garrett House in Williamsburg.

The inscribed mid-19th century names on the secretary of two of Robert Page Waller's (1791-1872) grandaughters, Mary Morris and Mary Cosnahan, both of whom lived at times in the Benjamin Waller house in Williamsburg, suggests that this secretary may have been owned in Williamsburg by Waller.