GEORGE NAKASHIMA | An Important Double-Pedestal Desk

Commissioned directly from the artist by the present owner, 1985

Derek E. Ostergard, George Nakashima: Full Circle, exh. cat., American Craft Museum, New York, 1989, p. 122, cat. 7 (for a related example)
Mira Nakashima, Nature, Form, and Spirit: The Life and Legacy of George Nakashima, New York, 2003, p. 105 (for a related example)

Overall in very good condition. This desk features a magnificent African zebrawood top, distinguished by its complex, high-contrast figuring, eight elegant butterfly keys, and dynamic free-form edge. The desk presents with very minor faint surface scratches concentrated to the top and areas around the cabinet handles, only visible upon close inspection and not visually distracting. The desktop has been recently oiled by a professional wood conservator and is in very good condition. The cabinets with minor abrasions to the bottom corners and minor traces of white house paint, consistent with age and gentle use and not visually distracting. This masterwork piece has been carefully maintained by its owners, who commissioned the piece directly from George Nakashima in 1985.
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.

This lot is offered together with a copy of the original design drawing.



This important double pedestal desk is a superb illustration of how George Nakashima gave “second life to trees” in his craft. This desk represents a melding of Nakashima’s early and late oeuvre, in that it features both his long-favored material of American black walnut and also the use of exotic hardwoods, which Nakashima began to employ in the 1970s. Nakashima selected rare zebrawood for the slab ornamenting the top of the desk, and the figurations in light and dark tones that dance across the surface of the slab are particularly fine. Choosing the ideal type of wood for every project was tantamount to Nakashima, as he wished to honor the spirit of the tree in his pieces. It would often take Nakashima years to find the ideal project for a slab of wood in his collection. Nakashima’s studio air-dried and baked these wood slabs in a kiln, and he felt that the process of finishing wood was akin to the forming of a precious diamond. Paradoxically, Nakashima perfected his Japanese techniques of craft while he was imprisoned in an American internment camp during World War II. Nakashima was exposed to the traditional techniques of woodcraft through working with Japanese craftsmen in the prison camp, and he also learned the ability to adapt his designs to fit the materials at hand while he was confined.

The aim of Japanese woodcraft is to work with nature, rather than against it, and Nakashima embodied this philosophy in making his pieces. This desk was constructed in the 1980s, during a period in Nakashima’s career where he began to employ ever more complex joinery. Most notably on this desk, Nakashima utilized beautifully articulated black walnut joinery butterflies to bring together natural separations in the striking zebrawood slab. This desk is one of Nakashima’s celebrated forms, in which he elevated the desk form off of the floor using double pedestals. While the double pedestal desk was a design that Nakashima had crafted early in his career, he returned to the form starting in the mid-1970s. This desk displays how Nakashima firmly believed that good craftsmanship possessed “unseen mortality,” and making the joinery a perceptible part of his work was a signature of Nakashima’s craft. The visible butterflies on the slab of this desk call to mind the workmanship of the Shakers, who, much like Nakashima, believed in only forming thoughtfully constructed and honest furniture. Nakashima’s work was a natural continuation of the Shaker tradition, and he thought of himself as a “Japanese Shaker.” This desk was commissioned directly from Nakashima by the present owner as a birthday gift, and it is a stunning example of Nakashima’s sculptural creations.