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Desk and bookcase

1760–90
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 753
The blocked, tripartite desk drawers and shell-carved fall-front provide a sturdy foundation for the towering bookcase with a grand arched pediment. Behind the bookcase doors lie cubbyholes and drawers in which business and household records were stored. Many colonial Rhode Island families made their livelihoods through the transatlantic exchange of enslaved people, sugar, and other commodities. This monumental workstation embodies the superior craftsmanship of Newport cabinetmakers while implicating the destructive commerce and consumption of　the Triangle Trade.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Desk and bookcase
  • Date: 1760–90
  • Geography: Made in Newport, Rhode Island, United States
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Mahogany, chestnut, white pine, yellow pine, yellow poplar, cedar; brass
  • Dimensions: 99 1/8 x 44 1/8 x 25 3/4 in. (251.8 x 112.1 x 65.4 cm)
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1915
  • Object Number: 15.21.2
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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