A FEDERAL INLAID MAHOGANY SECRETARY BOOKCASE

Illustrated in Albert Sack’s Fine Points of Furniture as a ‘best’ example of a secretary, the present lot is attributed to Edmund Johnson (w. 1793-1811) based on close similarities with three pieces bearing the label of the Salem cabinetmaker. Popularized in Salem during the Federal period, these four-door secretary-bookcases with decorative oval veneers were likely based on Plate 52 entitled “Gentleman’s Secretary” of Thomas Sheraton’s The Cabinet Maker’s and Upholsterer’s Drawing Book, and were often made as venture cargo for trade in the Southern states.

Like the labeled examples at Winterthur Museum and in a private collection, this example features similar bellflower inlay punctuated with ebony dots and pointed ovals running down the top third of the bottom case as well as an identical arrangement of oval veneers on the drawer and door fronts. The central eagle finials, apparently original in all examples, are remarkably similar (Charles F. Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period (New York, 1966), p. 223, cat. no. 179; Skinner, Boston, 9 June 2002, lot 107).