Historic, 220-year-old desk to be restored at King Manor Museum

A more than 220-year-old desk at King Manor Museum will be restored by the end of this year. Photo courtesy of King Manor Museum.

By Jonathan Sperling

A desk that predates 44 U.S. states will be restored at Jamaica’s King Manor Museum in time for 2020, museum officials say.

The desk belonged to Rufus King, a former New York senator, signer of the U.S. constitution and staunch anti-slavery advocate who called Jamaica home. It will be restored by Double Queue Fine Furniture Restoration and Conservation sometime before December 2019. The restoration comes just before King Manor marks its 120th anniversary as a museum in 2020.

Christopher Anigacz, who has completed restorations at King Manor Museum before, will be performing the work.

The historically significant desk roughly dates to 1796, and is considered highly unusual due to its vaguely French characteristics combined with an English treatment, according to the museum. 

Experts believe the desk might be the work of English cabinetmakers Seddon & Son. It’s stylistically neoclassical with its rectilinear form and simplicity — the desk serves as a prime example of fashionable furniture in the 1790s.