An Important Federal Rosewood, and Satinwood Inlaid and Figured Mahogany Gentleman's Secretary attributed to Nehemiah Adams, Salem, Massachusetts circa 1798

Retains a dark rich possibly original surface.  Appears to retain its original brass hardware and green baize writing surface.

Marsden J. Perry, New York;
William Randolph Hearst;
Eleanor 'Cissy' Medill Patterson, Mount Airy, Prince Georges Co., Maryland;
Ann Bowie Watson Smith, Prince Georges Co., Maryland;

Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., The William Randolph Hearst Collection: Part II, November 17, 18 and 19, 1938, sale no. 64, lot 565, sold for $3,050.

Missing minor pieces of inlay; appears to retain its original hardware, retains a dark historic surface; secondary wood is white pine, two later shelves added to cupboard section; minor losses to inlay on mullions; 4 1/2 by 18 inche piece of inlay missing on proper right side at top; 4 inch piece of inlay missing on proper left side; 1 valance on proper left side of desk compartment missing; 1 valance on proper right side of desk compartment with missing chip; two vertical dividers of pigeon holes lacking mahogany frontise piece; cracks to both sides of lower case; bottom of lower case loose and free of attachment on proper left side
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Sold in the landmark William Randolph Hearst sale in 1938 by Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc. and hidden in obscurity until now, this gentleman's secretary stands as one of the supreme examples of late 18^th century Salem, Massachusetts craftsmanship¹. 

Partially inspired from Thomas Sheraton's 'Gentleman's secretary' published in 1793 in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, this form gained wide appeal with the wealthy Salem merchant families. The surviving 1801, Articles of the Salem Cabinet-Maker Society, Associated lists²:

Cabinet, of a superior quality, with circular doors, inlaid and decorated in every part, to be made with a [check'd] cock bead round the doors, drawers and head ---- dolls. 120
        Making - - - - - doll. 40

Ditto, finished with circular doors – 115
        Making - - - 37

Ditto, of another quality, with diamond doors 110
        Making - - - 34

The 'circular doors' refers to the pointed oval mullions of the glass bookcase doors rather than the oval panels of veneer.

Several 'superior quality' Gentleman's secretaries survive; however this example is the only other directly attributable example to Nehemiah Adams.  This attribution is based on a labeled example in the collections of Winterthur Museum.  Both examples have identical bellflower inlay and interior desk arrangement.³

Nehemiah Adams (1769-1840) was a very successful Salem cabinetmaker and maintained a shop on the corner of Newbury and Williams streets between 1796 and 1798.  The shop burned down in 1798 and by February 1804 he had a shop on Brown street.  Winterthur Gentleman's secretary's label states that his shop is on Newbury Street near the Common, dating its production sometime between 1796 and 1798.  Due to the presently offered example's nearly identical design and embellishment, it is quite possible that it too was made between 1796 and 1798.⁴

Adams was a member of a cooperative furniture enterprise with fellow Salem cabinetmakers and they were involved with shipping venture furniture to a number of different port cities.  Over his lifetime, Adams was part owner in three vessels including the brig Unicorn in 1804.  Fascinatingly, the Winterthur example was discovered in Capetown, South Africa and has an attached page from a 1912 sale catalogue listing is travels from Salem to Capetown.⁵

After its purchase at the Hearst Sale by Eleanor 'Cissy' Medill Patterson, it was placed in Dower House or what today is called Mount Airy.  Patterson was the owner of the Washington Times Herald and restored Mt. Airy after a terrible fire had done significant damage.  Upon Ms. Patterson's death in 1948, Mt. Airy and its contents were inherited by Ann Bowie Watson Smith.  The Gentleman's secretary has since descended through the Smith family until today.

It survives in remarkable condition, retaining a very dark rich apparently original surface. Further it retains its original stamped brass hardware and green baize in the desk's writing surface of the secretary drawer.  The sale of this piece provides a rare opportunity to purchase one of the finest Gentleman's secretaries ever offered.

¹ Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc., The William Randolph Hearst Collection: Part II, Early American Furniture and Historic Blue Staffordshire Ware, November 17-19, 1939, lot 565 sold for $3,050.
² Thomas Sheraton, The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, (1793), pl. 52, Dean Thomas Lahikainen, "A Salem Cabinetmaker's Price Book," in American Furniture (Milwaukee, WI: Chipstone Foundation, 2001), pp. 152-219.
³ For closely related Gentleman's secretary's see A Walk Through the American Wing, (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2001), p. 75, David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff, American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection, (Houston, TX: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1998), p. 111-3, F179,   Charles F. Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period in the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, (New York: Viking Press, 1966), pp. 224-6, June 9, 2002, Skinner Inc., Boston, Massachusetts sold a labeled Edmund Johnson gentleman's secretary, lot 107, for $556,000.
⁴ Fiske Kimball, "Salem Furniture Makers II. Nehemiah Adams," The Magazine Antiques 24, no 6 (December 1933), 118-20.
⁵ Mabel Munson Swan, "Coastwise Cargoes of Venture Furniture," The Magazine Antiques (April 1949), 278-80.