probably Boston/Salem area, circa 1800, in two sections, highly figured mahogany veneers with inlaid stringing, interior with full width adjustable shelves, lower case central section with finely fitted fall front desk drawer above three drawers, flanking end sections each with single drawer above single cupboard doors with oval panels, elongated spade feet, 92 x 66 x 20-3/8 in.

Provenance: Israel Sack Inc., New York, NY, April 1996 (accompanied by copy of receipt for $80,000); Estate of Richard and Shirley Roberts, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Literature: Deanne Levison, "Living with Antiques: A Collection on the Chesapeake Bay", The Magazine Antiques (December 2001), p. 808, pl. VIII.

Note: Similar documented examples are by Nehemiah Adams, Edmund Johnson and William Appleton of Salem. For comparable examples, see David B. Warren et al., American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection (1998), pp. 111-113, cat. no. F179; Charles F. Montgomery, American Furniture, The Federal Period in the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum (1966), pp. 222-26, cat. nos. 179, 180 and 181; Richard H. Randall, Jr., American Furniture in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (1965), pp. 96-98, cat. no. 67.