CHIPPENDALE DESK AND BOOKCASE

New York        Circa 1770

Primary Wood: Mahogany
Secondary Woods: Tulip Poplar, White Pine, Yellow Pine

Reference: The carved cartouche strongly resembles the work of either Henry Hardcastle or one of his apprentices such as James Strachan. See Luke Beckerdite’s “Immigrant Carvers and the Development of the Rococo Style” in American Furniture, 1996. For a very similar form see figure 15. For the carved elements, see Luke Beckerdite’s, “Origins of the Rococo Style in New York Furniture and Interior Architecture,” in American Furniture, 1993. In particular the treatment of the carved birds such as figures 11, 13, and 19.