Lot 235: Chippendale Secretary Desk in Two Parts
Chippendale Secretary Desk in Two Parts
upper section having three flame top finial with broken arch top, carved flowers, and deep center shell over two blind doors opening to sections and small drawers on lower section, having slant lid desk opening to shell carved door and eleven total drawers over four oxbow drawers all set on ball and claw feet
height 107 inches, width of base and top 38 inches
Provenance: Francis P. Garvan (1875-1937), New York; by descent to his wife, Mabel Brady Garvan (1886-1979), New York; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, March 13-15, 1947, lot 636 (unsold); given to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, 1950.
Bibliography:
Harold Sack, “Authenticating American Eighteenth-Century Furniture,” Antiques, vol. 127, no. 5, May 1985, p. 1125, figs. 5, 5a;
Gerald W. R. Ward, American Case Furniture in the Mabel Brady Garvan and Other Collections at Yale University, Yale University Art Gallery, 1988, pp. 344, 466-467, appendix no. 24, illustrated;
John T. Kirk, Early American Furniture: How to Recognize, Evaluate, and Care for the Most Beautiful Pieces: High Style, Country, Primitive and Rustic, Alfred A. Knopf, 1970, pp. 179-182, fig. 181;
Edgar G. Miller, American Antique Furniture: A Book for Amateurs, vol. 1, Lord Baltimore Press, 1937, pp. 460-461, no. 847;
Oscar P. Fitzgerald, Three Centuries of American Furniture, Prentice Hall, 1982, p. 278, fig. XIII-7;
Judith Bernstein et al., The Eye of the Beholder: Fakes, Replicas, and Alterations in American Art, ed. Gerald W. R. Ward, Yale University Art Gallery, 1977, p. 45, no. 45;
Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., Notable American and English Furniture and Decorations, March 13-15, 1947, p. 158, illustrated.
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Estimate: $3000- $5000
Auction Date: October 24, 2026
