Beschreibung:

American, 1796. A two piece-desk and upper bookcase, constructed entirely of walnut (both primary and secondary), the desk with ogee bracket feet, molded base, the case with fluted quarter columns, four graduated drawers, each fitted with a dustboard, the battened fall board supported by lopers, the desk interior with a prospect door featuring a carved concave fan outlined by pricking, the base of the fan pricked MJ 1796. Two columned drawers flank the central shell, with four valanced pigeonholes, above four drawers. A total of nine “secret drawers” are hidden behind the removable central document drawer. The upper case has two doors, with two square, and two rectangular sunken panels of matching crotch walnut, and a broken arch pediment with carved sunflower rosettes, topped by three well-carved flame finials; oah. 102.75 in., desk ht. 47.75, wd. 43.25, dp. 23.25 in., bookcase ht. 55.5, wd. 43.5, dp. 13.5 in. Captain John Cowan was one of the first settlers of Kentucky, arriving with Bullitt in 1773. Settling near Danville, he rose to frontier prominence. In 1796, as a mark of his success, he commissioned this important Chippendale desk and bookcase that remained in his family for two hundred years. It is the only Kentucky-made case piece of its kind that has yet been identified, and one of a mere handful of extant works from the years immediately after Kentucky became the 15th state to join the Union in 1792. The desk belies the fact that at the time it was made, Kentucky was only a few years removed from Euro-American settlement, and stands as proof that even at this early date, sophisticated furniture was being made in the Commonwealth. Captain John Cowan: Kentucky Pioneer John Cowan (1748-1823) was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, the son of Scotch emigrants. Little is known of his early life, but in 1773, he was with Thomas Bullitt at the Falls of the Ohio, where he helped survey property in what is now Louisville, Kentucky (Durrett 1884:23). The following year Cowan joined a party of 32 Virginians and Pennsylvanians lead by Captain James Harrod to survey the land promised by the British crown to soldiers who served in the French and Indian War. From Fort Redstone, in western Pennsylvania, Harrod’s men descended the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers to the mouth of the Kentucky River. Travelling upstream, they crossed the Salt River into what is today Mercer County, Kentucky. On June 16, 1774, the men established Harrod’s Town, the first settlement in Kentucky. On September 2, 1777, Cowan’s diary recorded the first census ever taken in Kentucky (Collins 1924:606). When Cowan entered this vast tract of uncharted wilderness, Kentucky was considered part of Virginia and included three counties: Jefferson, Lincoln and Fayette. Harrod’s Town (today’s Harrodsburg) was initially part of Lincoln County. As migrants from the East streamed into Kentucky, parts of the county were carved away to create Mercer (1786) and Boyle (1842) counties. John Cowan and his descendants lived successively in each of these counties from 1777 forward. While there is no complete biography or family history, records suggest John Cowan was a man of considerable means and political stature. In 1780, he filed warrants for 600 acres of land near what is today Danville. In 1781, he was appointed by the Governor of Virginia to serve as Justice of the Peace for Lincoln County, in the first court in Kentucky (Collins 1924:475-476). That year he was also appointed a deputy surveyor for Lincoln County, where he made claims for thousands of acres in today’s Fayette, Jefferson, and Oldham counties. (Jillson 1926:11). He served as Captain in the Lincoln County Militia, and Colonel in the Mercer County Militia. On September 11, 1781, Cowan married Mary Craig in Rockingham County, Virginia. Mary’s brother John, who emigrated from Augusta County, Virginia to Lincoln County as early as 1780, likely introduced the couple. Between 1782 and 1797, John and Mary Cowan had