Desk and Bookcase
- 211
Recent scholarly and physical investigations reveal dramatic new information about this early 19th century Boston-area Massachusetts desk and bookcase. At some point in the cabinet’s history, the decorative cornice or top was removed. A museum conservator and a master craftsman accurately reproduced the missing decoration and restored the piece to its original appearance.
The conservator also discovered the signature “W. Doggett” scratched into the soft pine board of the underside of a drawer. City directories tell us that Doggett worked in the Boston area from 1789. He must have been aware of the latest styles in English furniture as this desk was inspired by designs published in England that were easily imported to the newly created United States. The writing surface is cleverly concealed behind the central drawer.
With Winick and Sherman, New York City, by 1933;
Purchased from Winick and Sherman by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1933.
Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 159, (repro.).
