Virginia Chippendale Highly Figured Mahogany Bookcase and Desk, MESDA Documented

attributed to Petersburg, Virginia, 1775-1790, exceptionally figured mahogany veneers, top section with adjustable shelved interior, lower section fitted interior with prospect door and document drawers, shaped bracket feet, poplar and pine secondaries, 102-1/4 x 49-3/4 x 25-3/4 in.

Provenance: Belonged to John Herbert Claiborne of Brunswick county, Virginia; descended in the owner’s family, formerly of Petersburg, Virginia; Private Virginia Collection

Documented in the MESDA research files. See S-9522.

Note: A history of this desk, provided by the seller, notes "The first ancestor to record possession of the desk was John Herbert Claiborne (1763-1847). He volunteered for the Surry Troop, Light Horse Harry Lee's legion during the Revolutionary War. The desk dates to the 1790s, and records say [Claiborne] had it made by a Virginia cabinetmaker. His son, Rev. John Gregory Claiborne (1798-1887) inherited the desk and used it in his plantation home, "Roslin," in Brunswick Co., Virginia. His son, John Herbert Claiborne, M.D. (1828-1905) inherited it and used it as his desk in Petersburg, Virginia. Dr. Claiborne was a Major during the Civil War and Head Surgeon for the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and in charge of all military hospitals in Petersburg during the war. After his death, the desk went to his daughter, Elizabeth Weldon Claiborne Mann of Petersburg (1867-1948). Upon her husband Bernard Mann's death in 1930, she moved from Petersburg to live the rest of her life with her son, Colonel John Herbert Claiborne Mann of Lexington, Virginia. He was Professor of Engineering at Virginia Military Institute. After John Mann (my great uncle) and his wife Alene died, my father, Bernard Davidson Mann of Richmond, Virginia, inherited the desk in 1979 and it stayed in his home until 2005, when I inherited it and brought it to Marietta, Georgia, at that time."