Beschreibung:

Very Fine and Rare Carved and Figured Mahogany Desk-and-BookcaseCarving attributed to Samuel Harding (d. 1748)Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaCirca 1755
Finials appear to be replaced.
Height 103 in. by Width 41 in. by Depth 23 1/4 in.Condition reportFor further information on the condition of this lot please contact americana@sothebys.com or call (212) 606-7130. ProvenanceRobert Burkhardt, Kutztown, Pennsylvania.Catalogue noteFew desk and bookcases survive in as fully developed a form as this one, which has all of the hallmarks of the finest case furniture made in Colonial Philadelphia. This desk and bookcase is a superior example of its form, notable for its use of vibrantly figured mahogany, fine proportions, exuberant carved decoration, and elaborate interior comprised of block-fronted drawers and pigeonhole valences.
The exceptional carving is attributed to the Philadelphia carver, Samuel Harding (working by 1751-died 1758) based on the convex shell set within a concave shell with deep irregular folds and segments defined by crescent-shaped chip cuts and parallel gouge cuts. One of Harding’s most recognizable features, this ruffled double shell is found on a frieze appliqué in the Assembly Room of the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall), which Harding’s shop is documented to have supplied between 1753 and 1757.1  Shells articulated in a similar way appear on a desk-and-bookcase attributed to Harding that sold in these rooms as part of the Copeland Collection as well as on a tea table at the State Department with carving attributed to Harding.2
Other Philadelphia desk-and-bookcases with closely related carving are extant. These include one in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art;3 one made for the Gulick family of Princeton, New Jersey;4 one in a private collection that sold in these rooms, Important Americana, January 21-22, 2000, sale 7420, lot 706 as the property of the Kenmore Collection; and one with a history of descent in the Morris family of Philadelphia currently in the collection of Independence National Historic Park.
For information on the work of Samuel Harding, see Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller “A Table’s Tale: Craft, Art and Opportunity in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia,” American Furniture 2004 (Hanover and London: The Chipstone Foundation, 2004), pp. 2-45 as well as Luke Beckerdite, “Brian Wilkinson, Samuel Harding and Philadelphia Carving in the Early Georgian Style,” American Furniture 2020 (Hanover and London: The Chipstone Foundation, 2020), pp. 120-159.
1 See Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller “A Table’s Tale: Craft, Art and Opportunity in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia,” American Furniture 2004, fig. 5, p. 5.2 Sotheby’s, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lammot Du Pont Copeland, January 19, 2002, sale 7757, lot. 43 and Jonathan Fairbanks and Gerald Ward, Becoming a Nation (New York: Rizzoli, 2003): no. 15, p. 67.3 See Alexandra Kirtley, American Furniture, 1650-1840: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2020): no. 26, pp. 64-5.4 See Albert Sack, Fine Points of Furniture (New York, 1950): p. 165.