Rosewood Lap Desk with Hudson River Valley Landscape

Circa 1850-1875: Measuring 4.75"H x 12"W x 9"D, this fine rosewood lap desk with poplar secondary wood and patriotic shield shaped mother of pearl escutcheon features an oil painting of Hudson, New York and is based on an 1830s William Henry Bartlett engraving entitled "View of Hudson City and the Catskill Mountains." A sewing box with a similar oval Hudson River oil painting on its top is illustrated on page 135 of Nina Fletcher Little's seminal publication Neat and Tidy: Boxes and Their Contents Used in Early American Households (E.P. Dutton, 1980). The lap desk retains its original surface and contains two large interior storage compartments for documents and supplies and a smaller compartment for storing writing instruments. Condition is excellent and commensurate with age and use with a short scratch (minor professional touch up on scratch) and typical overall craquelure to the painting, minor wear and loss to the interior, and replaced leather. Ex Marshall Goodman