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American, probably Bourbon County, Kentucky
Sugar Desk, about 1810
Cherry, poplar, other woods
34 1/2 × 31 1/8 × 15 1/2 in. (87.6 × 79.1 × 39.4 cm.) (desk closed)
34 1/2 × 31 1/8 × 26 5/8 in. (87.6 × 79.1 × 67.6 cm.) (desk open)
Gift of Mrs. Hattie Bishop Speed, by exchange 1994.1
How Was This Used?
Although it looks like an undersized writing desk, this piece was actually used for the storage and safekeeping of sugar. A sliding, horizontal lid provides access to the sugar storage compartment. Sold in the form of large, solid cones, refined white sugar was an expensive commodity in early nineteenth-century Kentucky. Other costly items like coffee, tea, and silver spoons may have been stored in this sugar desk’s drawers.
