The desk on a frame (or desk on frame) is usually an antique form made up of two pieces of furniture. The first piece is a fairly large and closable portable desk with a slanted hinged top giving access to the writing surface and utility nooks and small drawers. The second piece is a stand made for it in the same style and material. It is also sometimes a single piece of furniture which looks as if it were made up of the two previous pieces but is in fact solid and undetachable. This form was popular in Colonial America and was often done in the Queen Anne style.
The slant top desk is a direct morphological descendant. In a sense the Spanish Bargueno (or Vargueno) desk is a distant cousin of the two piece version, since the Bargueno is also made up of a portable desk and a stand constructed specially for it, using the same materials and style.
See also the list of desk forms and types.
Famous quotes containing the words desk and/or frame:
“We must rest here, for this is where the teacher comes.
On his desk stands a vase of tears.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“The heroes and discoverers have found true more than was previously believed, only when they were expecting and dreaming of something more than their contemporaries dreamed of, or even themselves discovered, that is, when they were in a frame of mind fitted to behold the truth. Referred to the world’s standard, they are always insane. Even savages have indirectly surmised as much.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)