Eighteenth-century Philadelphia case furniture at Stenton

Magazine Antiques, May, 2002 by Philip D. Zimmerman

James Logan (1674-1751), the learned secretary to William Penn (1644-1718), arrived in Philadelphia from England in 1699. By the 1720s, he had found a wife and begun a family. He had also started amassing one of the great libraries in the colonies, and had become one of the leading figures in the rapidly growing city. By that time too he set out to create for himself a country seat. The result was Stenton, built between 1723 and 1730 on the road from Philadelphia to Germantown. Logan furnished this fine early example of Georgian architecture with furniture removed from his rented town houses in Philadelphia and subsequent purchases. Logan descendants who occupied Stenton also mixed the old furniture with their new acquisitions. Over the last one hundred years, some of these furnishings have returned to Stenton, which is now operated by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This article highlights some important and engaging pieces of case furniture so as to encourage further scholarly attention as well as aesthetic appreciation.

Perhaps the grandest object at Stenton is the mahogany secretary with mirrored doors shown in Plate II. It was acquired from descendants of the joiner and cabinetmaker Stephen Armitt (1705-1751/52), (1) whose daughter Sarah (b. 1733) married James Logan Jr. (1728-1803). James Jr. lived in Stenton as a youngsters, although he never owned the house. However, according to his estate inventory taken in 1752, James Logan Sr. had a "Scrutore" (a corruption of "escritoire," derived from the Latin word "to write") in the parlor. Highly valued at seven pounds, the secretary appeared twoycars later as "an Escritoire with Glass Doors" in the estate inventory of his widow, Sarah Read Logan (c. 1692-1754). (2) Appropriate as this reference is for the present desk, apparently Stephen Armitt also owned a "Mahogany Scrutore with glass doors." (3)

Despite the uncertain provenance, this complex secretary is visually stunning and the best of its kind. The mirrored glass plates in the upper case immediately attract the eye. The technical achievement of making glass plates of this size combined with that most interesting of all reflections--oneself--has ensured a lasting impression among beholders of this secretary. The profusion of drawers and scalloped apron of the lower case vie for attention, and the interior (P1. IIc) sustains the visual feast.

The mirrored doors and diamond-shaped mirror panel in the pediment are striking, but the bookcase section demands further scrutiny Bold quarter-round moldings applied to the door frames set off the mirrored plates while holding them in place. Such moldings are absent from the bottom mirror panels, suggesting that wood panels may have originally occupied these narrow spaces. (4) A molding borders the doors themselves--a detail rarely encountered in American case furniture. A deep cove molding defines the ogee-shaped pediment, known as an "O.G. head" in contemporary parlance. (5) Rather than being shaped from a single long board, this molding is cut from several short and wide boards glued edge-to-edge so that the grain runs perpendicular to the cove, creating a visual effect similar to crossbanded veneers. This treatment is rare, perhaps singular among Philadelphia case pieces of this time.

Inside the bookcase, slender column drawers flanking a pair of doors divide ranges of drawers and pigeonholes (P1. IIc). Black diamonds outlined by stringing and a cross-banded mahogany-veneer border highlight the doors, which open to reveal additional pigeonholes and drawers. Closer scrutiny reveals that the diamonds are made of lignum vitae, an exotic West Indian hardwood characterized by occasional streaks of bright yellow. The same wood is used for the column drawers of the desk section, where the yellow streaks are clearly visible and partially visible in the fluted pilaster drawers of the bookcase section. However, the diamond motif in the prospect door is not made of this wood. The vertical slats that form cubbies below the doors slide out individually to give access to secret drawers below the removable floor (P1. IIa). Unmatched attention to detail extends to the deeply scalloped small drawers of the upper case and desk interior The drawer sides are made of aromatic red cedar and dovetailed, with nea t miters finishing the top (P1. IIb). A molding cut along the top on the inside of the thick mahogany drawer front mimics the profile of the drawer sides and completes the box shape of the drawer The backboards of the upper case, visible through the pigeonholes, are grain-painted (see P1. IIa). The center prospect slides out to reveal secret drawers behind it.

Although typically found in high chests in the Philadelphia region, the use of three small drawers over two side-by-side drawers in the desk section of the secretary is very rare. (6) Those desks that have small drawers usually have only a single tier of two or three. The three small drawers in the desk section of this secretary are separated from the drawers below them by a molding that runs across the front and sides of the case. Originally, the three small drawers were secured by spring locks released from underneath and accessible through the two locking small drawers below. The present locks and escutcheons are not original. (7)