Page:Southern Antiques - Burroughs - 1931.djvu/131

Rh  is placed in a large room, without measuring it.

PLATE I. . (Virginia—c. 1720-1730). Here is an early walnut piece, with the double-arch moulding around the drawers. Single-arch moulding was of an earlier date. The well compartment, as it is known, is the compartment beneath the writing surface of the desk, covered by a sliding lid, which is part of the floor of the cabinet. The brasses, which are also original, help to set the date on this piece. Small pieces such as this, built especially for children, or as models, are much sought for. This desk was found in a negro cabin on the Rappahannock River. (Property of Mrs. E. M. Crutchfield).

PLATE II. . (North Carolina—c. 1740). This secretary, built with a well, shows an exceptionally fine cabinet for the type that it represents. This early secretary, as the date indicates, was made in the Queen Anne period, but does not show any of the marked characteristics of that period, except perhaps the shell in the interior. The size of this type varies from thirty-six to forty-two inches in width. The smaller size is, of course, the most sought after, but they are rarely found with so fine a cabinet. (Property of Mrs. Robert M. Pulliam).

PLATE III. . (North Carolina—c. 1710-1740). This type Queen Anne desk, which is in fact a desk on frame, and a style from which many modern desks are copied, is rare, and few are found. Due to this, the type is often faked by placing the top of a short desk on a table frame. (Property of Joe Kindig, Jr.).

PLATE III. . (c. 1750-1760). Although this desk is believed to be of English origin, and the drawers are lined with oak, it is illustrated to show the type, and mainly because it was the property of Patrick Henry, Virginia's patriot, orator, and soldier. Desks of the knee-hole type are found throughout the South. (Property of J. Pope Nash).

PLATE IV. . (Virginia—c. 1760-1770). This desk shows a cabinet of highest quality. The serpentine drawer was a favorite design among Southern workmen, and much care was given to the making of the cabinet, while the exterior was often left very plain. The wooden knobs replace the original brasses. The desk was the property of one of the foremost leaders of Presbyterianism in Virginia in the middle of the eighteenth century. (Property of Union Theological Seminary).

PLATE V. . (Georgia—c. 1760-1770). This carefully executed Chippendale secretary presents an interesting study in the cornice top. The term "broken arch" is often used erroneously to refer to the top shown on Plate VI. Notes made by a Charleston cabinetmaker of the third quarter of the