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A recent article by furniture historians Sumpter Priddy III, J. Michael Flanigan, and Gregory R. Wideman links the Myers secrétaire à abattant to an important group of Baltimore furniture and attributes the entire group to the cabinetmaking firm of Bankson and Lawson that operated in Baltimore between 1785 and 1792. This secrétaire à abattant descended in the Myers family, many of whom had social and commercial ties to Baltimore, including Moses Myers (c. 1752-1835), his daughter Augusta (who married into a Baltimore family), and his eldest son John (who was in business there between 1816 and 1819). However, Moses Myers’ European travels, extensive shipping business, and international contacts make the choice of a continental form seem quite natural.

What is a secrétaire à abattant?

A secrétaire à abattant is a desk with a fall-front writing surface. The form is architectural in character and was popular in Europe during the 18th century. The secrétaire à abattant was a rare furniture form in America in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Although immigrant craftsmen were beginning to populate American cities, only a handful of Americans were traveling abroad. Those who did travel to Europe included the future president James Monroe, who upon his return to the United States in 1796 would bring with him a French secrétaire à abattant. Later American examples of the secrétaire à abattant reflect German forms, which are consistent with the immigration of many German cabinetmakers to furniture-making centers such as New York and Philadelphia between 1815 and 1830.

Interior, Myers secrétaire à abattant.

Who were the cabinetmakers?

Englishman Richard Lawson brought to the partnership many years of experience in a large cabinetmaking shop in London, and, although the partnership was short-lived, the pair produced many examples which have been identified through their sophisticated construction techniques and complex inlays. The firm also operated a warehouse, where they maintained a stock of goods such as tea caddies, looking-glasses, and fabric, as well as mahogany logs.

On June 17, 1788, Bankson and Lawson advertised in the Maryland Journal of Baltimore, that they:

“continue to manufacture and sell every Article in the Line of their Business, in the most fashionable manner, and on moderate Terms. Their Ware-Room now contain a Variety of elegant and useful Furniture, viz: Mahogany Chairs of the most approved Patterns; Circular, Pier, and Card Tables, highly ornamented and plain Ditto; Pembroke or Breakfast Tables; complete Sets of Dining Tables; Ward-robes ornamented and plain; Desks and Book Cases; Dressing Drawers; Commode and plain Side-Board Tables; Wine-coolers ornamented, and plain Ditto; Cabriole and plain Sofas; Easy Chairs, Bedsteads or various Prices, etc, etc…”

How is the Myers secrétaire à abattant decorated?

The Myers secrétaire à abattant is Neoclassical in style and composed of three principle parts: a tambour (narrow strips of wood glued on canvas backing) at the top, the fall front desk in the center, and three drawers below. Decoration is rendered in inlaid wood: fluted pilasters topped with acanthus leaves frame the whole, and narrow string borders outline the fall front as well as the drawers, which also have small fans placed in each corner. The eagle, the nation’s new national symbol, is found in the central medallion on the desk’s fall front. This motif is also found on other Bankson and Lawson case pieces.
	detail of eagle inlay on fall front, Myers secrétaire à abattant
Finally, a stylized acanthus leaf is centered in the apron. The interior of the desk is fitted with small drawers and open storage space. The cabriole feet and brasses are conservative features reflecting the earlier Rococo style. The Neoclassical taste favored simple tapered legs.

If the Myers secrétaire à abattant is correctly dated, it is the earliest known American-made example of its form. Although America had declared her independence on paper, she would look to Europe—and especially France—for furniture forms throughout much of the 19th century.

 

—Martha R. Wyatt, Graduate Student,
History of Decorative Art, Parsons School of Design
with the assistance of Gary E. Baker,
Acting Curator of Decorative Arts and Historic Houses

SOURCES

Garret, Wendell. “French Decorative Arts in America.” The Magazine Antiques (March 1989), 696-707.

Hurst, Ronald and Jonathan Prown. Southern Furniture 1680-1830: The Colonial Williamsburg Collection. Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1997.

Priddy, Sumpter III, J. Michael Flanigan, and Gregory R. Weidman. “The Genesis of Neoclassical Style in Baltimore Furniture.” American Furniture, ed. Luke Beckerdite. Hanover, NH: University of New England Press for Chipstone Foundation, 2000.

Prime, Alfred Coxe. The Arts & Crafts of Philadelphia, Maryland, and South Carolina, Second Series, 1786-1800. Topsfield, MA: The Walpole Society, 1932.