Samuel Luckett Desk JOHN SHEARER (Scottish-American, active c. 1790-1820), Loudoun County, Virgi...

Samuel Luckett Desk JOHN SHEARER (Scottish-American, active c. 1790-1820), Loudoun County, Virginia, 1810 The solid walnut top is dovetailed to single-board walnut ends, all canted at front to support the triple-pegged battened and beveled walnut fallboard, whose front contains incised and inked single-unit inlay arranged as a swag of naval chains suspended from two oval masks of bearded men above bellflower pendants, centering an almond-shaped plaque depicting the Great Seal of the United States and inscribed 'Liberty' - the only known example of an American eagle motif by Shearer, whose inlay and inscriptions often expressed pro-British sentiments. The bottom edge of fallboard is grooved to pass over cockbead-molded top drawer surround when opening on three inset brass hinges to form an upholstered writing surface surrounded by astragal molding on reverse, continuing from the walnut and pine desk surface inside case, to which thin layers of thumb-molded walnut are applied below drawers and conform with their carved walnut fronts - the document drawers at ends concaved and stained to resemble two paneled doors ajar, with fingerhold carved into the bottom; the walnut, oak, and poplar prospect drawer having a convex front with trompe-l'oeil effect of a locking paneled door on faux brass hinges; and two shallow drawers below shaped pigeonhole shelves with serpentine fronts blocked at the ends, a profile repeated on the graduated case drawers. The vertical pigeonhole dividers are dado-joined at top to the blade of a long drawer cresting the interior, its carved walnut front centering a convex shell with crisp round- and hollow-molded lobes below an arched plaque inscribed 'For Sam'l Luckett ~ / 1810' inlaid on a stippled and ebonized ground, and flanked by three coved Gothic arches in alignment with the open compartments below, the sides and bottom of drawer front overhanging its dovetailed oak and yellow pine frame; the long drawer flanked by blocked corner drawers with walnut fronts carved and ebonized to simulate stone Gothic arches with shell-carved vaults, dovetailed to cases of oak and walnut, both with secret latches accessed through the bottom. The entire writing interior enclosed on back of case by two horizontal boards secured with screws to the back edge of the pine desk surface, document drawer partitions, and the proper left prospect drawer partition. The open fallboard is supported underneath by lopers with cockbead-molded walnut facades tenoned with two pegs to oak extensions, each pierced, relief-carved, and ebonized with the 'Federal knot,' a quatrefoil design that Shearer refined over time; walnut loper partitions are dado-joined to the rails of top case drawer, with applied vertical cockbeading mitered to conform with the integral plane-molded bead edges of the drawer blades, which are serpentine carved and blocked to conform with three graduated drawers, the blocking of the facade emphasized by Shearer's signature diagonal and vertical mounting of brass pulls, these likely being original and having escutcheons press-molded with a thistle motif emblematic of Scotland; all three drawers have walnut fronts dovetailed to oak stretchers dovetailed to tulip poplar backs, the bottom of the middle drawer possibly replaced with poplar instead of yellow pine, as found on the first and third drawers; the internal drawer supports resemble sash window frames, with stretchers tenoned through the drawer blades and back rails, which are both dado-joined to the sides of case, the back rail being reinforced with nails driven through the seven rabbeted vertical backboards enclosing the case below writing surface; the third drawer rests on the dovetailed bottom of case, which consists of a carved walnut drawer blade butted against board of yellow pine. The blocked front ends and returns of the case are framed with cove molding applied to exposed edge of mitered rails nailed to the bottom, which form the broad fillet molding above Shearer's characteristically large ogee bracket feet, those in front being mitered and joined by recessed iron bracket across the bottom, and the rear feet with carved ogee facing joined with sliding dovetails to triangular brackets at back corners. Shearer signed his name at least eighteen times on the raw lumber and finished surfaces of the desk, describing himself as a Joiner seven times, and twice as 'Shearer from Edinburgh'. The desk is dated '1810' in at least six places in addition to the 'Sam'l Luckett' plaque, with 'Mar[ch] 19th' specified in an inscription underneath the pine writing surface. Transcriptions of identified inscriptions available upon request. wd. 44 1/2, dp. 21, ht. 45 in. Footnotes: Provenance The estate of Peter Damgaard Nielsen, Charlottesville, Virginia, c. 1985. Clarence J. and Mary Ann Elder, 1740 House Antiques, Charlottesville, Virginia, c. 1985. Edwin Percy and Elizabeth Lawder Gamble, Millersburg, Kentucky, and Palo Alto, California, c. 1880. Made for Samuel Luckett (1770/1777-1824) of Loudoun County, Virginia, and Frederick County, Maryland, 1810. Provenance Note We are grateful to Elizabeth Davison for the following genealogical research: Samuel Luckett was born in Frederick County, Maryland, in either 1770 or 1777, the first-born child and eldest son of William Luckett, Jr. and Sarah Nelson. He married Sarah Clapham in Loudoun County, Virginia, on 31 December 1801. The 1802 Personal Property Tax List for Charles Bennett's District, Loudoun County, registers Luckett as the only tithable in his household, which included one enslaved person over the age of sixteen. He married Rebecca Clapham, sister of his first wife, in Frederick County, Maryland, on 22 December 1806, but continued to live in Loudoun County up until 1820, when he is listed as a resident of Frederick County in the U.S. Census. Luckett's will was signed and witnessed in Frederick County on 21 October 1823, and he died 7 January 1824. An inventory of his Frederick County estate lists a $12.00 secretary desk, likely this one made by John Shearer. The Lucketts were a wealthy family in colonial Maryland, with roots going back to Samuel Luckett (b. circa 1650, Kent, England), who emigrated to Charles County sometime before 1680. By the 1740s, his grandson William Luckett, Sr. (b. 1711) had moved to the portion of Frederick County that would become Montgomery County, also owning land in present-day Washington County. He represented Frederick County in the Maryland General Assembly and served as a Lieutenant Colonel of militia during the Revolutionary War. Literature Illustrated in Elizabeth A. Davison, The Furniture of John Shearer, 1790-1820 (Lanham: AltaMira Press, 2011), figs. II.24-II.24a, p. 42; fig 16.3, p. 143. Davison's monograph catalogues thirty-two of fifty-two pieces attributed to Shearer, including similar desks for Loudoun County, Virginia, patrons Mr. and Mrs. Emely Dixon (c. 1808-10, cat. no. 15), Robert McFarland (c. 1808-10, cat. no. 16, formerly in the collection of William Randolph Hearst), and Alfred Belt (1817, cat. no. 17). At the time of publication, the whereabouts of the Luckett desk were unknown, its description derived from files of Clarence J. Elder and the MESDA Object Database. Also see Elizabeth A. Davison, 'Images of Loyalism and Heritage in John Shearer's Furniture,' Antiques 177/3 (April/May 2010): 146-53; and Lita Solis-Cohen, 'Book Review,' American Furniture, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee: Chipstone Foundation, 2011), p. 305-10. For further scholarship on Shearer, see Ronald L. Hurst and Jonathan Prown, Southern Furniture, 1680-1830: The Colonial Williamsburg Collection (Will For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing