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Photo: Courtesy Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke, 20.631; photo by Erik Gould
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Slant-front desk

Object number

RIF2506

Maker

Maker Unknown

Dimensions

40 1/2 × 35 1/2 × 20 1/2 in. (102.87 × 90.17 × 52.07 cm)

Date

after 1720

Current location

Rhode Island School of Design Museum

Geography

Probably made in Massachusetts
(view a map of Rhode Island)

Medium

Maple (primary); yellow poplar and pine (secondary)

Marks

None

Inscriptions

"Dighton," in ink, on exterior side of one of document drawers; "Durmon Cary," in chalk, on exterior back of bottom drawer; "Top,” in chalk, on exterior back of proper-right small drawer; illegible inscription, in chalk, on exterior back of proper-left small drawer

Provenance

Wallace Nutting (1861–1941), Framingham, Massachusetts; sold to Arthur Leslie Green, Newport, Rhode Island; sold to Mrs. Gustav Radeke (née Eliza Greene Metcalf, 1854–1931), Providence, Rhode Island, 1916; given to Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, 1920

Associated names

Wallace Nutting
Arthur Leslie Green
Eliza Greene Metcalf Radeke

Construction

Interior lacks two drawers in center section. Interior cleaned of green paint to reveal original red stain. Half-round moldings missing on front. Bottom edge of base molding restored. Brasses are old but not original, and lower right pull replaced. Scalloped arch missing from top of interior. Source: Christopher P. Monkhouse and Thomas S. Michie, American Furniture in Pendleton House (Providence, R.I.: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1986), 92.

Bibliography

Christopher P. Monkhouse and Thomas S. Michie, American Furniture in Pendleton House (Providence: Rhode Island School of Design Museum, 1986), 92–93, no. 36, ill.