Joinery Desk

Artist/Maker: Unspecified^[1]

Created: c. 1810

Origin/Purchase: Monticello Joinery

Materials: mahogany and pine

Dimensions: 77.5 x 92.7 x 50.8 (30 1/2 x 36 1/2 x 20 in.)

Location: North Octagonal Room

Provenance: Thomas Jefferson; by gift to William A. Burwell; by descent to Frances Steptoe Todd; by purchase to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in 1947

Accession Number: 1947-4

Historical Notes: This very modest and unadorned desk is said to have been a gift for William A. Burwell, the younger man who served as Jefferson's secretary for the later part of his first term as president. The desk, attributed to the Monticello joinery, has straight, tapering legs, and two hinged surfaces. The first hinged surface exposes a writing surface with a scratch-beaded edge, and the second reveals an area for storage.

- Text from Stein, Worlds, 291.