Rockefellers Who Bought Shaker Desks Also Bought

a gold framed portrait of an 18th century british loyalist in boston while he still had a full head of hair hangs above a brown shaker writing desk, on which sit two little silver sauce tureens with lids, a photo of a rockefeller farm published by christies
installation view of a Shaker desk; two George III sauce tureens which are at least stamped; and a portrait where the date, title, attribution, and depicted age of the sitter, who I think is Benedict Arnold’s lawyer, Ward Chipman, do not line up, but at least it all belonged to some Rockefellers

Maybe it’s because it’s an online sale in January. Maybe it’s the no reserve, low estimate, leftover furniture from the third guest room. But lot descriptions of American furniture at major auction houses used to overflow with material detail, construction analsys, and connoisseurial judgment behind the dating, attribution, and origin of an object.

But now, literally the only thing that matters about this “elder’s desk” Christie’s says is made in the “19th century,” “possibly” by a cabinetmaker, at an unidentified Shaker community, is not those shockingly lyrical, but also justifiably structural, curved leg braces, but that Mr & Mrs John D. Rockefeller 3d bought it, and their daughter is selling it.

the back of a reddish brown shaker writing desk of hickory and pine, we're told, is distinguished by the thin curved braces in a different wood and finish on either side of each very thin rear leg, which form a v, supporting the desk in ways the shakers never imagined? being sold by a rockefeller at christie's
what happened to the communion with God in that Shaker village that these curved brackets were added, and the slides for an entire second drawer were just tacked onto the legs like that? It feels like there is a whole story in this thing, and it is not being told

13-27 Jan 2026, Lot 842: A SHAKER PINE AND HICKORY ELDER’S TALL DESK, POSSIBLY BY THOMAS BISHOP, 19TH CENTURY, est. $US 5-10,000 [christies]
previously, related: Protect me from what I want [an Appalachian painted twig side table]