William Thomas

The Kirkpatrick Desk, Classical Revival, mahogany, crotch mahogany veneer, east Indian rosewood, white oak, holly, satinwood, bubinga, wenge, bloodwood, maple burl, Shellac, varnish, 60"H X 60"W X36"D.

15 Todd Hill Rd, RINDGE, NH., 03461

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This desk was inspired by the Metropolitan Museum's exhibit of the work of Abraham and David Roentgen. My client asked me to take inspiration from one of the pieces, and I was immediately attracted to the "Apollo Desk", built for Catherine the Great of Russia in 1784. After many long hours of contemplation, I decided to attempt the monumental task of building an interpretation of this desk. The first criteria was to eliminate all the ormolu decoration. I decided to keep the same decorative scheme, but substitute east Indian rosewood for the gilded bronze castings. The base cabinet is essentially a Doric temple, so keeping the proportions and decorative elements the same made sense. Another design element is the hexagonal parquetry on the writing surface. I modified the original design by adding Penrose triangles to add an element of optical illusion.

The major challenge, however, was re-engineering and manufacturing all the secret mechanical devices contained in the desk. There are hidden locks, wells that pop open with the push of a button, drawers that open when a secret lever is pulled, and a central compartment that rolls back and is replaced by a second compartment that rises in front of it. There is a music box in the base that is activated by the changing of the central compartments. All these features are driven by springs or weights. It was my task to determine how these mechanisms work and how they were incorporated into the desk. At first I had very little information about any of this, but I managed to find several books on the Roentgen's work, which gave me a start. Then I contacted the Getty Museum which own a Roentgen desk of the same period. They generously allowed me to visit and examine their desk in detail. In addition, one of their conservators had been to Saint Petersburg, Russia to visit the Hermitage Museum, and while there, they had operated the Apollo desk for him, and he had videoed its actions. He offered to share those videos with me, which provided much more information. Finally, a colleague visited the Hermitage and took many close up photos of the Apollo Desk for me.

I have long dabbled in machining and metal work, but the daunting prospect of the work necessary for this project was daunting. At first I hoped to hire someone to manufacture the mechanical elements, but it soon became apparent that coordinating my building schedule with someone else's was going to be impossible, and the budget wouldn't support paying someone else. It became obvious that I was going to need to tool up and do it all myself. Aside from turning and milling steel, which I already had experience with, I had to learn how to make leaf springs. All the mechanisms-locks, hinges, latches, linkages, pulleys, weights, and springs, had to be designed, manufactured, and incorporated into the desk's structure.

There is yet another mechanical marvel, the stand up writing slide that is incorporated in the cornice, which is still under construction.

The desk will be part of the New Hampshire Furniture Masters' Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibit at the Currier Museum in Manchester, NH.

Slant front desk with columned base in the style of a Doric temple. Desk box with inlaid pilasters and veneered panels with raised borders. Interior with parquetry writing surface, faced with drawers in the shape of book spines with shelved compartments above. A central compartment comprising pigeon holes to resemble a columned temple front. A second moving compartment with ten drawers resembling book spines. A cornice above an inlaid spandrel consisting of outer drawers with galleries above, and a central box fronted with a crotch satinwood fall concealing a moving stand up writing desk with inkwell compartments and lectern.