Secretary Cabinet
1732
Medium
Walnut, holly, oak, pine, gesso, gilding, mirror glass, brass, and iron
Dimensions
Overall: 211.8 × 125.8 × 58.8 cm (83 3/8 × 49 1/2 × 23 1/8 in.)
Classification
desk
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
5702
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
18th-century Dublin was a booming city, attracting furniture makers and customers from England and the rest of Europe. Among the former were the Kirkhoffer family, German Protestants who had fled the area of Germany known as the Rhineland-Palatinate to escape religious persecution. The family included John Kirkhoffer, who has been identified as the maker of this secretary desk thanks to modern technology, which revealed his signature inside the base of one of the small drawers, along with facitt...