Charles C. Parkes
Lynchburg, Virginia, 1815-1820
Mahogany with tulip poplar birch, and yellow pine
Catalog no. 145
Charles C. Parkes, a cabinetmaker in the Piedmont Virginia town of Lynchburg, signed this secretary and bookcase. The only documented example of his work, it reveals the hand of a trained artisan who was highly attentive to detail. Even the interior glue blocks are consistently shaped and meticulously chamfered along the exposed edges. As is true of other inland southern furniture forms, the piece lacks some of the structural refinements commonly associated with coastal urban wares. For example, the dustboards typically used to support the drawers and stabilize the lower case are not present. Several of Parkes's ornamental elements, notably the glazing pattern on the bookcase doors and shaping of the cornice, have few known parallels.