image of object
Photo: Courtesy Rhode Island Furniture Archive
Click the image to enlarge

Slant-front desk

Object number

RIF1172

Maker

Maker Unknown

Date

1760–90

Current location

Private collection

Geography

Made in Providence, Rhode Island
(view a map of Rhode Island)

Medium

Maple (primary); white pine (drawer sides); chestnut (drawer bottoms)

Marks

None

Inscriptions

"1," "2," "3," "4" and "5," in graphite, on backs of upper tier of interior drawers; "1," "2," and "3," in graphite, on exterior backs of lower tier of drawers; both series from proper right to proper left

Provenance

Robert Sterry Burrough, Providence, Rhode Island; by descent to his son, Robert S. Burrough, Providence; by descent to his daughter, Martha Burrough (1867–1911), Pomfret, Connecticut; by descent to her son, Leonard Swain (born 1891), Pomfret; by descent to his daughter, Edith (Dede) Swain Bullock

Associated names

Robert Sterry Burrough
Robert S. Burrough, Jr.
Martha Burrough
Leonard Swain

Construction

Half-blind dovetails attach the sides to the top with a half pin at the front and a half tail at the rear, and five full dovetails between them. The drawer sides top edges are slightly rounded and are lower than the drawer fronts. The kerf marks are of average length and thickness. The drawer bottoms fit into grooves in the front and sides and are nailed to the underside of the back. The muntin next to the lopers is tenoned into the top rail and the drawer divider below it. The battens on the ends of the fall do not have exposed tenons. The inner faces of the brackets on the rear feet are angled. The feet are reinforced with vertical blocks that rest against the bottom of the case and horizontal blocks that abut them. Examined by P. E. Kane, July 6, 2008.