image of object
Photo: Courtesy Stanley Weiss Collection, Providence, R.I.
Click the image to enlarge

Library bookcase

Object number

RIF6538

Maker

Maker Unknown

Dimensions

95 × 70 × 24 in. (241.3 × 177.8 × 60.96 cm)

Date

1800–1815

Current location

Stanley Weiss Collection

Geography

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

Medium

Mahogany and light and dark wood inlay (primary); chestnut (drawer linings); pine (back boards, backing of drawer dividers, center case sides, bottom board); sheet glass (bookcase doors)

Marks

None

Inscriptions

"L V[inverted] 4," in graphite, on exterior back of upper proper right exterior drawer; "V[inverted]" and overwritten with "6[upside down]" and "5 L," in graphite, on exterior back of lower proper right exterior drawer; "V[inverted] 4 R," in graphite, on exterior back of upper proper left exterior drawer and "3" and "R," in graphite, on underside; "V[inverted] 5 R," in graphite, on exterior back of upper proper left exterior drawer and "X," in graphite, on underside; "1," and mathematical calculations, in graphite, on underside of proper right interior long drawer and "1," in graphite on drawer divider below it; "2," in graphite, on underside of proper left interior long drawer and "top" and "2," in graphite, on drawer divider below it; "3," "4," "5," and "6," in graphite, on undersides of small interior drawers from left to right, and corresponding numbers on drawer dividers below them

Provenance

A Boston family; Francis Hill Bigelow (1859–1933), Cambridge, Massachusetts; consigned to Anderson Galleries, New York, January 17, 1924, lot 72. Edward Burgess Aldrich (1871–1957), Providence, Rhode Island; Marjorie Rockwell (1910–1995), Loudonville, New York; consigned to Northeast Auctions, Hampton, New Hampshire (sale held Manchester), November 5, 1995, lot 492. Stanley Weiss Collection, Providence, Rhode Island, 2017

Associated names

Francis H. Bigelow
Northeast Auctions
Edward Burgess Aldrich
Marjorie Doyle Rockwell

Notes

The proper left and center cupboards are fitted with later drawers.

Bibliography

"The Stanley Weiss Collection advertisement," Antiques and Fine Art 17, no. 4 (October-December 2017): 11, ill.
Anderson Galleries, New York, Colonial Furniture: The Superb Collection of Mr. Francis Hill Bigelow of Cambridge, Mass., Part One, sale cat. (January 17, 1924), 30–31, lot 72, ill.
Northeast Auctions, Hampton, N.H., Important New Hampshire Auction: The Collection of Marjorie Doyle Rockwell, sale cat. (November 5, 1995), 23, lot 492, ill.
Stanley Weiss and Brock Jobe, Fine American Antiques in the Stanley Weiss Collection (Providence, R.I.: Stanley Weiss Collection, 2019), 5, sw00888, ill.