This bookcase is nearly nine feet in length, and is made of unusually fine mahogany. The lower part is designed in a series of curves which prevents the plain look that a straight front would give in such length. The doors form one curve and a part of the other two, which are completed by the drawers at each side; a skilful management of a long space. The curves at the top of the pediment follow the same lines, and the bookcase was evidently designed by a master hand. It was probably brought from England, together with a secretary to match it. Above the doors and drawers, shelves pull out, on which to rest books. A fine line of holly runs around each door and drawer, with a star inlaid at the corners of the doors, while a very beautiful design is inlaid in light and dark woods, in the space on the pediment, which is finished with the broken arch, of the high, slender type, with carved rosettes. The centre ornament, between the rosettes, is a basket of flowers carved in wood.
Illus. 113.—Maple Desk, about 1795.
After the publication of the designs of Shearer, Hepplewhite, and Sheraton, the heavy desks were superseded by those of lighter design, and the slant-top bureau desk was seldom made after 1790. Sheraton says: “Bureau in France is a small chest of drawers. It has generally been applied to common desks with drawers made under them. These pieces of furniture are nearly obsolete in London.” Slant-top desks do not appear in cabinet-makers’ books published after 1800, and it is safe to assign a date previous to the nineteenth century to any such desk.
Illus. 114.—Hepplewhite Desk, Cabinet Top, 1790.
Illustration [113] shows the latest type of a slant-top desk, made in 1790-1795. The frame is of maple, the drawers being of curly maple edged with ebony. The lid is of curly maple framed in bird’s-eye maple with ebony lines, and in the centre is a star made of mahogany and ebony. The small drawers inside are of bird’s-eye maple, three of the drawers having an ebony and mahogany star. The base is what Hepplewhite calls a French base, and the desk, which measures only thirty-six inches in length, is a good example of the artistic use of the different varieties of maple with their golden hues. This desk belongs to the writer.
Illustration [114] shows a Hepplewhite desk with cabinet top owned by the writer, and made about 1790. The drawers are veneered with satinwood, with a row of fine inlaying of holly and ebony around each drawer front. The base is after Hepplewhite’s design, and has a row of ebony and holly inlaying across it. The slightly slanting lid turns back and rests upon two pulls to form a writing-table. The pigeonholes and small drawers are behind the glass doors, which are made like two Gothic arches, with three little pillars, and panels of satinwood between the bases of the pillars. The pediment at the top of the cabinet is quite characteristic of the period.