Inlaid case pieces incorporating reverse-painted glass panels stand among the most refined of all Baltimore Federal furniture. Here, decorative elements combine to emphasize the secretary’s imposing height of nearly nine feet. The cabinetmaker marked the façade of the fall-front desk with a series of horizontal and vertical ovals. These move the eye up toward the bookcase section, where vertical fretwork leads the eye straight to the featured reverse-painted glass panels in blues and gilt. An especially elaborate reverse-painted glass panel, probably based upon a print source, hides behind the drop-front desktop.