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Desk and Bookcase

A work made of mahogany, red oak, and white pine.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of mahogany, red oak, and white pine.

Date:

1750–70

Artist:

Artist unknown (American, 18th century)
Boston

About this artwork

This desk and bookcase is closely related to English furniture of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The naturalistic carving on the top of the bookcase section recalls English architectural carvings of the seventeenth century. Almost all brass fittings on 18th-century American furniture were imported from England or Europe. The original and distinctive brass hardware on this piece, however, may have been made in Boston by one of the few brass foundries known to operate in the colonies.

Status

On View, Gallery 166

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Artist unknown

Title

Desk and Bookcase

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. 1750–1770

Medium

Mahogany, red oak, and white pine

Dimensions

238.7 × 104.8 × 61 cm (94 × 41 1/2 × 24 in.)

Credit Line

Major Acquisitions Centennial Fund

Reference Number

1986.414

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/105457/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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