{
"data": {
"id": 170257,
"accession_number": "2012.43",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Desk and Bookcase, c. 1780\u201395. Attributed to John Townsend (American, 1732\u20131809). \"Plum pudding\" mahogany, red cedar, chestnut, white pine, brass; overall: 240 x 108 x 64.8 cm (94 1/2 x 42 1/2 x 25 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Harvey Buchanan in memory of Penelope Draper Buchanan and Dorothy Tuckerman Draper, 2012.43",
"current_location": "204 Colonial American",
"title": "Desk and Bookcase",
"creation_date": "c. 1780\u201395",
"creation_date_earliest": 1775,
"creation_date_latest": 1800,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"America, Rhode Island, Newport, 18th century"
],
"technique": "\"Plum pudding\" mahogany, red cedar, chestnut, white pine, brass",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Decorative Art and Design",
"collection": "Furniture",
"type": "Furniture and woodwork",
"measurements": "Overall: 240 x 108 x 64.8 cm (94 1/2 x 42 1/2 x 25 1/2 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 2.4,
"width": 1.08,
"depth": 0.648
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "No existing exhibition history.",
"opening_date": null
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Oliver Wolcott, Sr [1726-1797], a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, commissioned from the maker.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "probably 1785",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "Thence by descent through the Wolcott, Tuckerman, Minturn, Draper, Buchanan families.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1785-2012",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2012-",
"sortorder": 3
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "This desk and bookcase was likely made for Oliver Wolcott Sr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence and later governor of Connecticut.",
"description": "In the 1700s, Newport, Rhode Island, was the fifth largest city in North America and one of the most important centers of shipping and trade along the Eastern Seaboard. Orders for furniture from its celebrated cabinetmakers came in from far and wide. This desk and bookcase was likely made for Oliver Wolcott Sr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence and later governor of the State of Connecticut. Eventually, the desk passed down through his family to Dorothy Draper, an important 20th-century interior decorator, and ultimately to her daughter, Penelope Draper Buchanan, whose husband gave it to the museum after her death\u2014a rare, unbroken line of succession.
Large desks were designed to hold all the necessary components of a gentleman\u2019s office under lock and key: books, papers, pens and ink, and important documents. To serve such a function desks also became complicated masterworks of the cabinetmaker\u2019s art, incorporating many parts from small drawers to large panels cut from a single tree, making them among the most expensive types of furniture available. This desk and bookcase exhibits the characteristic traits of classic Newport furniture\u2014\u201cplum pudding\u201d mahogany, cupcake-like finials, and a carved shell on the inside of the desk.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60755900"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2012.43-desk-and-bookcase"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. vol. 53 no. 02, (March/April 2013).",
"page_number": "Mentioned & Reproduced: p. 23",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2013-02/page/n21"
},
{
"citation": "Bidwell, Frederick E. and Leslie Cade. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with New York, NY: Scala Arts Publishers, 2014.",
"page_number": "Mentioned & reproduced: p. 137",
"url": "http://library.clevelandart.org/opac/?func=find-b&find_code=OCL&submit=Search&request=857403600"
},
{
"citation": "\u201cA Walking Tour: The entire new museum wing by wing, with curators calling out a few favorite works in the collection.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 1 (January/February 2014): 8-33.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 18",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2014-01"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 20",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2012.43",
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"creditline": "Gift of Harvey Buchanan in memory of Penelope Draper Buchanan and Dorothy Tuckerman Draper",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": "Leigh and Mary Carter Gallery",
"athena_id": 170257,
"creators": [
{
"id": 63187,
"description": "John Townsend (American, 1732\u20131809)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": "attributed to",
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1732",
"death_year": "1809",
"use_in_caption": true,
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"weight": 1
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],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2012-06-04T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1775,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1780\u201395",
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"record_type": "cover",
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"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
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"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": true,
"updated_at": "2026-03-27 00:06:00.043000"
}
}