Secrétaire à abattant

1820–25

Artist unknown (American, 19th century)
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: Artist unknown
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

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. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1986), 68–70, cat. 47 (ill.).
Judith A. Barter, et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1998), 143–47, cat. 61 (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.
Baltimore Museum of Art, Classical Taste in America, 1800–1840, June 27–Sept. 26, 1993, cat.; Charlotte, NC, Mint Museum of Art, Nov. 20, 1993–Mar. 13, 1994, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 1–July 24, 1994.

David Sears (1787-1871), Boston; by descent; sold in the 1960s or 1970s; the Art Institute of Chicago, 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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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.

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