Category

FURNITURE

Object Name

desk and bookcase

Maker/Artist

Adams, John __attributed

MESDA Craftsman ID Number

55076

Place Made

Guilford County, North Carolina

Date

1800-1820

Materials

walnut __primary ||tulip poplar __secondary ||lightwood __ __stringing inlay

Dimensions

[Overall Ht]96″ __[Overall Wdth]46″ __[Overall Depth]22″

Description

Two-piece desk and bookcase; bookcase with two eight-glass doors and attached cornice. Bookcase doors are butt-joined, top and bottom rails to the side rails; lightwood stringing surround each door (lunetted at corners). Bookcase sits on top of desk with molding attached to bookcase. Desk features four graduated, full-width drawers; fluted corner columns, and ogee bracket feet on a pad. Lightwood stringing surround each drawer front and the face of the fallboard (lunetted at corners). Desk interior features a central prospect flanked by document drawers and eight small drawers under eight pigeonholes with shaped valences. Behind the prospect are two drawers stacked under two pigeon holes, also with shaped valences. There seems to be a hidden compartment behind the prospect drawers and pigeon holes but a mechanism to release them was not found. The bookcase and desk backs are vertical, lap-joined boards. The desk sits on full-depth side and front full-width bed molding (none in the back). Shaped walnut vertical foot blocks (possibly replacements) are attached to the bed molding and flanked by horizontal blocks. The vertical foot blocks are attached below the bed molding and above the foot pad. Hardware is accurate to the period with two shaped pulls on the bookcase, post-and-bale handles and oval central escutcheons on the lower drawers, and small round pulls on the desk interior drawers, prospect, and document drawers.

Object Location

private collection

MESDA / Old Salem Accession Number

D-34023

Photo Number

D-34023

Decoration

string inlay __single string inlay around bookcase doors, front of fallboard, and drawer fronts; lunetted corners on all stringing

File Location

NCP-8-39A/NCP-22-5

History

When the current owner’s family purchased the desk and bookcase from a Winston-Salem antiques dealer in the mid-20th century, the following history was provided in writing: “This old Secy. was bought by Jesse D. Hocket[t] from Joash Reynolds about the year 1836 for the sum of $40.00[.] [A]t the death of Jesse D. Hockett it fell to his son David F. Hocket[t] and was purchased at his sale in 1926 by John S. Deviney.”

The original owner of this desk and bookcase was most likely a Quaker named Jeremiah Reynolds (1787-1842), a life-long member of Centre Monthly Meeting located in south-central Guilford County on the border with Randolph County. He married Susanna Chamness at Centre Monthly Meeting in 1812. The had eight children. Among them was Joash Reynolds (1815-1898), which may account for his name being mentioned in the antique dealer’s note.

The desk and bookcase could have been commissioned from the Guilford County cabinetmaker John Adams in 1812 as Jeremiah and Susanna Reynolds were setting up their household. No mention of the desk and bookcase or any other furnishings were made in Jeremiah Reynolds’s 23 September 1842 inventory. In his last will and testament, submitted a month earlier, he bequeathed to his wife “all the household and kitchen furniture… .” Jeremiah, Susanna, and Joash Hockett are all buried in the Centre Monthy Meeting cemetery.

The Hockett family were also members of Centre Monthly Meeting. Jesse Davis Hockett (1826-1898) was born in Guilford County in 1826. He married Rebecca Cox Hockett (1822-1878) in 1848 at Centre Monthly Meeting. The couple had six children, including David F. Hockett (1848-1926). The Hocketts lived in Randolph County and the family is buried in the Centre Monthly Meeting cemetery.

David Franklin Hockett was a potter in Randolph County, making brick, earthenware, and extruded earthenware drainage tiles. His father may not have been a potter, and may have learned his trade from his uncle, Milton Hockett (1829-1902). Remnants of David F. Hockett’s kiln survive in Randolph County.

John S. Deviney (1885-1965) of Liberty, Randolph County, purchased the desk and bookcase at the estate sale of David Hockett, held 9 July 1926. Although nearly all of the items in the sale were not described, and Deviney made multiple purchases, he paid $76 for lot, the most paid for anything in the sale. This was almost certainly the desk and bookcase made by John Adams. The antiques dealer that sold the desk and bookcase to the current owner’s family most likely purchased it from the Deviney family shortly after John Deviney’s death in 1965.

Alterations-Condition

Very good with possible replacement of foot blocking; a 20th century refinishing; and an early patch to the proper right side of the bookcase. Hardware may be replaced but is period appropriate.

Sign/Marks

Large Drawer __Outside of backs: white chalk numbers ||Interior drawers __Inside of drawer backs: red chalk/pencil numbers (1-10) and arithmetic under one of the drawer bottoms. ||Document drawers __Red chalk/pencil “L” and “R” on outside side boards of document drawers

Joinery

See description

Examined

Gary Albert __ __ __2/24/2022