1800-1805

Cylinder Desk and Bookcase

The design of this commodious desk and bookcase is based directly on plate 39 of Thomas Sheraton's The Cabinet Dictionary (London, 1803), where he says, "I took the idea of it from one I have seen executed." It is made in separate parts: pediment, bookcase, desk, and cabinet. The turned ball-and-spade-shaped feet, taken literally from Sheraton's design, are highly unusual on American case pieces and represent the art of specialist turners working in Philadelphia in the early years of the republic.