John Shaw
Linen Press
1796
Physical Qualities
Mahogany; mahogany veneers; light, dark, and stained wood inlays; secondary woods: tulip poplar and yellow pine; brass
, 92 x 51 1/2 x 25 in. (233.7 x 130.8 x 63.5 cm.)
Credit Line
Friends of the American Wing Fund
Object Number
1975.76
A linen press is the 18th-century version of a hall closet, used to store bedding and bathing linens and typically placed on the second floor of a large American home. This grand example is covered with imported mahogany veneers, or fine sheets of wood, to impress visitors. At the top, curving scrolls with stars and delicate latticelike fretwork flank a stained, inlaid wood kylix—a shallow Greek or Roman bowl with horizontal handles—suggesting the owner’s knowledge of ancient empires. John Shaw emigrated from Scotland to Annapolis, Maryland, in the early 1760s. Inside the cabinet is one of Shaw’s paper labels inked with the date 1797 and the initials “JA” or “IH,” which may record unidentified cabinetmakers or one of the multiple enslaved craftspeople who worked in his shop.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, by purchase, 1975; Alex Cooper Auctioneers, Baltimore, Maryland, 1975; estate of Mary Buchanan Albert Myers, Baltimore, Maryland, by 1974; Grace Brown Albert, Baltimore, Maryland, by 1944; Robert Brown, Baltimore, Maryland; Dr. George Brown, Annapolis and Baltimore, Maryland.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Acquisitions: Selections from 18th-19th Century American Art", May 3-July 31, 1977.
William Voss Elder III, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "John Shaw Cabinetmaker of Annapolis", September 25-November 20, 1983.
William Voss Elder III, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "John Shaw Cabinetmaker of Annapolis", September 25-November 20, 1983.
Bartlett, Lu. "John Shaw, Cabinetmaker of Annapolis," "Antiques," February 1977, p. 373, ill. p. 365, pl. II.
Elder III, William Voss, "John Shaw," Baltimore: Museum of Art, 1983, no. 39, pp. 115-118, ill.
Elder III, William Voss and Jayne E. Stokes. "American Furniture 1680-1880: From the Collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art." Baltimore: Museum of Art, 1987, p.97-98, ill. 71.
Beckerdite, Luke. "American Furniture 2006," Milwaukee: Chipstone Foundation, 2006, pp.147-162, 177-8, ill.
Apicella, Mary Ann. "Scottish Cabinetmakers in Federal New York," Honover & London: Universit Press of New England (distrib.), 2007, ill. IV-2.
Inscribed: Label, back of middle tray in upper section, printed in ink, "John Shaw/Cabinet Maker/Annapolis"; inscribed with the date 1797 and the initials, JA or IH ["J (I?) 1797 A (H?)"].
On View at the BMA
