Illus. 106.—Block-front Writing-table, 1760-1770.
Illus. 107.—Serpentine-front Desk,
Cabinet Top, 1770.
Illustration [106] shows a beautiful little piece of furniture, modelled after what Chippendale calls a writing-table or a bureau table, by the latter term meaning a bureau desk with a flat top. The same unusually fine shells are carved upon this as upon the double chest of drawers in Illustration [21], and upon the low chest of drawers in Illustration [31].
In the inside of one of the drawers of this writing-table is written in a quaint old hand a name which is illegible, and “Newport, R.I., 176-,” the final figure of the date not being sufficiently plain to determine it. Desks, secretaries, and chests of drawers have been found with block fronts and these fine shells. All were originally owned in Rhode Island or near there, and nearly all can be traced back to Newport, probably to the same cabinet-maker. This writing-table was bought in 1901 from the heirs of Miss Rebecca Shaw of Wickford, Rhode Island. Miss Shaw died in 1900 at over ninety years of age. The writing-table is now owned by Harry Harkness Flagler, Esq., of Millbrook, New York. It measures thirty-four inches in height and thirty-six and three-quarters inches in length. A door with a shell carved upon it opens into a recessed cupboard. A writing-table like this is in the Pendleton collection, also found in Rhode Island.
Illus. 108.—Serpentine or Bow-front Desk, about 1770.
Illustration [107] shows a desk with cabinet top and serpentine or ox-bow front. It is made of English walnut of a fine golden hue which has never been stained or darkened. The doors are of panelled wood, with fluted columns at each side. It was owned in the Bannister family of Newburyport until 1870, when it was given to the Newburyport Library. It now stands in the old Prince mansion, occupied by the Library.