Spectacular Maryland Desk and Bookcase

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About the Item

This desk and bookcase is one of the most ambitious Western Maryland examples to survive from the Federal Period. It hails from Hagerstown, in the northern Shenandoah Valley, and represents the work of a Germanic artisan whose shop was likely founded before the Revolution. More than half a dozen pieces can be attributed to this unidentified cabinetmaker.

The earlier pieces in this group are explored in the article “Crossroads of Culture: Eighteenth Century Furniture from Western Maryland.”1 Two dower chests dating from the 1770s, both of which descended in the Beachtel and/or Loose families of “White Oak Forest Farm” near Hagerstown, are the earliest from the group.2 A third piece, a schrank, is more or less contemporaneous in date with the Beachtel family dower chests, and has a history in Libertytown, located about ten miles outside of Frederick.3

Two slightly later pieces from the same group-a dower chest and a desk-both have sulfur inlays that provide the respective dates of 1785 and 1796.4 Although the chest did not survive with a family history, the desk was originally owned by Hagerstown resident Martin Rorher, and shares many features in common with the inlaid desk and bookcase here under discussion--including the spiral quarter columns, the shaping of the pigeon hole dividers, and the configuration of the writing interior.5

This highly inlaid desk and bookcase has moved well beyond the simple sulfur inlays of conservative rural style and into the full blown Neoclassicism of the early nineteenth century, Although the lean proportions are often associated with Anglo-American cabinetmaking traditions, the principal inlay of the cornice harkens back to the region’s Germanic heritage--the vase-and-vine inlay of the pediment, which has a decidedly horizontal emphasis, and appears on numerous other local pieces.6

This desk and bookcase is one of two closely related examples currently known, the second of which, now in an eastern Virginia collection, is slightly later in date. Profusely inlaid as well, this second example boasts a pediment that is nearly identical to the one under discussion and has also been inlaid with a stylized vase-and-vine pattern with a pronounced horizontal emphasis.

Notes:
1 Sumpter Priddy III and Joan K. Quinn. “Crossroads of Culture: Eighteenth-Century Furniture from Western Maryland.” American Furniture 1997. Milwaukee, WI: Chipstone Foundation, 1996, pages 127-169.
2 Ibid, pages 131-133, figures 4 and 5.
3 Ibid, page 133, figure 6.
4 Ibid, page 134, figure 7.
5 Ibid, page 135, figures 8 and 9.
6 A related vase-and-flower design appears in sgraffito on a 1791 painted chest originally owned by Hagerstown-resident Adam Neff (Ibid, page 136, figure 13). Two pembroke/breakfast tables that have been attributed to this region also have similar vase-and-flower (or vine-and-flower) designs inlaid on their drawer fronts; these two tables are currently in private collections. One of these tables also has inlaid “fluted stiles” that are similar to those found on the center plinth of the desk and bookcase under discussion (Albert Sack, Fine Points of Furniture. New York: Crown Publishers, 1950, page 253; the table has been erroneously identified as having a Baltimore origin).

Dimensions:
Height: 95 in (241.3 cm)Width: 39 in (99.06 cm)Depth: 23 in (58.42 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Cherry,Poplar,Inlay
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
18th Century and Earlier
Date of Manufacture:
c. 1795-1810
Condition:
Seller Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: U1201048889133

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