Desk

Date1890-1910

Artist/Maker T. J. Lineburgh

OriginAmerica, New York, New York City, Brooklyn

MediumOak, walnut, maple, mahogany, white pine, and yellow pine

DimensionsOH: 41 1/2"; OW: 42 3/4"; OD: 24 1/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2001-834

DescriptionAppearance: Rectangular desk with a two door cabinet across the back section of the top; desk top slants slightly downward from front of cabinet towards front of desk; cabinet has an overhanging molded edge top, molding continues down sides at rear and alongside and front edges of desk top; cabinet has two hinged doors, each with four flat, rectangular, vertical panels, knob on proper left door at center; interior of cabinet divided into pigeon holes: two sections of three rows of four square pigeon holes flank a center section that has three unequally spaced, wider compartments; desk has four turned legs (proper right oak, all others maple) and two drawers along front; top surface is inlaid in various woods with a large star in star motif at center and shapes of a hatchet, compass, square, bevel, an actual Stanley No. 78 1/2 folding rule, hammer, rasp, and a rectangle carved "T.J. LINEBURGH" flanked by large diamonds and chisels; front and side of top inlaid with large rectangular banding; top of cabinet inlaid with a panel saw; drawer fronts are inlaid around the perimeter with the same rectangular banding as around the top and two diamond shaped elements in the location where drawer pulls traditionally are positioned; the drawers have locks but never had drawer pulls and can be opened from scooped hand holds carved into the backs of the bottom edges of the drawer fronts; top of legs and vertical divider between drawers are inlaid with light and dark wood diamonds.

Construction: The slightly slanted inlaid desk top is nailed to the top edges of the side rails with a glue block underneath reinforcing the joints on both sides. The top is probably also nailed to the front top rail, the heads of the probable nails being hidden by an inlaid band of the desk top.

Abutting back edge of the desk top is a second (non-slanted) board which forms the bottom of the cabinet. The two (probably added) boards are screwed from below to four ¾" lath supports that run front to back that function to hold the boards together but are not joined to either the front or back rail. In addition, two medial lath struts are doweled into the front rail and nailed from the back to the back rail. The rails are doweled and nailed into four corner stiles that are integral with the turned legs. For further support, iron bars (3/4" x 3") are inset and screwed from the back into each rear corner stile and screwed to the back rail.

The drawer blade is joined to each front corner stile with a dowel and nailed to the outside drawer runners and to the drawer divider. The drawer divider is nailed from the top to the desk top and nailed into a shallow dado in the drawer blade. The outside drawer runners are additionally nailed from the outside to the side rails and from the inside to the back rail. The center drawer runner is mortised into the drawer blade, nailed from below to the drawer divider and nailed from the outside to the back rail. Drawer guides are nailed to the top of the drawer runners. Lath is nailed to the bottom edge of the side rails.

Front and side moldings forming a frame for the inlaid desk top are nailed to the desk top.

Drawer sides are nailed into rabbets in the drawer front and nailed into the ends of the drawer back. Drawer bottoms are of beaded lath running horizontally and set in dados in the drawer sides and front. The rearmost lath is nailed into the bottom of the drawer back. The drawer front extends below the drawer bottom to allow for a center finger groove. The drawers have locks but have never had pulls (although they have interesting inlaid faux pull holes).

The cabinet is constructed separately from the desk. Its bottom board abuts and is attached to the desk top (as noted above) and is nailed (and possibly screwed) to the desk rails. The cabinet top board and bottom board are nailed (or possibly screwed) to the cabinet sides (heads not visible). The cabinet doors rest on oak lath nailed to the bottom board. Behind this lath, ramp shaped lath is nailed to the bottom board to eliminate the lip formed by the lath. Stiles of the pigeon-hole assembly are set in dados in lath and in bottom boards (underneath and behind the lath), and in dados in the top board. Individual shelves are set in dados in the stiles. Base molding on either side of the cabinet is nailed in place as is molding on the back edge of the cabinet sides abutting the back assembly.

The back of the cabinet is a separate assembly nailed to the cabinet top and bottom boards with a resulting 1" gap between the back of the pigeon holes and the back of the cabinet. The back assembly stiles are of two piece construction with a molded forward piece mortised and tenoned into the rails and backed by nailed on lath that is flush with the back boards. The back is of vertical beaded lath nailed into rabbets in the back assembly rails.

The doors are four panel mortise and tenon frames with panels set in dados in the stiles and rails. Each door has three interior stiles tenoned into the rails (center stiles are through tenoned). Upper and lower rails are notched to accommodate the front edges of the pigeon-hole stiles.
Label TextThis fascinating desk with its surface inlaid with large tool shapes and a plaque with the name of T. J. Lineburgh was likely made by that cabinetmaker for his own use. The maker was most likely Thomas Jackson Stevens Lineburgh. He was born on April 16th, 1835 in Orange County, New York, just north of New York City. By the age of 20 he was listed in local records as a cabinetmaker and by 1885 he was living and working in Brooklyn, New York. The desk follows a general pattern for writing desks of the period but has the whimsical large-scale tool shapes and one actual folding rule inlaid into its top for ornament.
Inscribed"T. J. LINEBURGH" carved into the writing surface decoration.

Pencil inscriptions
"No 7" on the back of one drawer; "N8[9]" on the back of the other drawer.
Notations on the inside of the drawer backs.
"8" on the inside of the desk backboard.
Markings