Secrétaire à abattant

1820–25

Attributed to Isaac Vose & Son (American, active 1819–25)
Boston

This architecturally inspired secretary was originally owned by David Sears (1787–1871), a prominent merchant and landowner, whose house, designed by Alexander Parris (1780–1852), still stands at 42 Beacon Street, Boston, as the Somerset Club. An 1822 perspective drawing of the home shows a double-columned portico with composite capitals similar to those of the secrétaire, epitomizing the American interpretation of the late French Empire style. The simple form of the exterior highlights the luxuriousness of its materials and also belies a complicated interior of intricate drawers and shelves of various sizes.

Status: On View, Gallery 172
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Isaac Vose & Son (Maker)
Title: Secrétaire à abattant
Place: Boston (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1820–1825
Medium: Mahogany, mahogany veneer, white pine, and popular, with black marble, ormolu, and brass
Dimensions: 145.4 × 13348.4 cm (57 1/4 × 52 3/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of the Antiquarian Society through the Lena Turnbull Gilbert Fund
Reference Number: 1983.30
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/100054/manifest.json

“Living with Antiques: A Connecticut House in Northern New England,” The Magazine Antiques 150, no. 2 (Feb., 1972): 360-6 (ill.).
Page Talbott, “Boston Empire Furniture,” pt. 2, The Magazine Antiques 109 (May, 1976): 1006, 1010, pl. 2 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report, 1982–83 (1983): 23, fig. 27 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, A Record of Sharing: A Supplement to the 1983–84 Annual Report of the Art Institute of Chicago (1984): 10 (ill.).
Milo M. Naeve, et al., A Decade of Decorative Arts: The Antiquarian Society of The Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1986), 68–70, cat. 47 (ill.).
The Antiquarian Society, “Dinner Menu,” (Oct. 26, 1987): (ill.).
Wendy A. Cooper, Classical Taste in America, 1800–1840, exh. cat. (Baltimore Museum of Art, 1993), 162–3, cat. 120 (ill.).
Judith A. Barter, et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998), 143–47, cat. 61 (ill.).
Robert D. Mussey, Jr., and Clark Pearce, “Classical Excellence in Boston: The Furniture of Isaac Vose 1789-1825,” in Boston Furniture, 1700–1900, ed. Brock Jobe and Gerald W. R. Ward, vol. 88 (Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 2016), 277-8, fig. 41, https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/3314#ch15.
Robert D. Mussey, Jr. and Clark Pearce, Rather Elegant than Showy: The Classical Furniture of Isaac Vose, exh. cat. (Massachusetts Historical Society, 2018), 170, fig. 193 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, A Decade of Decorative Arts: The Antiquarian Society of The Art Institute of Chicago, Nov. 12, 1986–Jan. 4, 1987, cat. 47.
New York, Hirschl and Adler, Neo Classicism in America, 1810-1840, Apr. 28–June 7, 1991, no cat.
Baltimore Museum of Art, Classical Taste in America, 1800–1840, June 27–Sept. 26, 1993, cat. 120; Charlotte, NC, Mint Museum of Art, Nov. 22, 1993–Mar. 13, 1994; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 1–July 24, 1994.

David Sears (1787-1871), Boston, MA [this and the following according to letter from S. Feld, Nov. 27, 1982; copy in curatorial object file]; by descent to their son, Dr. David Mason Sears, Jr. (1822-1874), Boston; to his son, Dr. Henry Francis Sears (1862-1941), Boston; to his son, Henry Sears (1913–1982) and his wife, Mary P. Sears (1908–2001; born Mary Aikman Pouch, also Mary Smithers), Greenwich, MA [according to letter from Dr. Henry F. Sears II, Aug. 11, 1987; copy in curatorial object file]. Sold to Stuart and Susan Feld, New York, by July 25, 1975 [according to letter from Page Talbott to S. Feld, July 25, 1975; copy in curatorial object file]; sold to the Art Institute, 1983.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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