Abstract:
John Shearer of Martinsburg, West Virginia is credited for the largest group of documented Chippendale furniture. Shearer’s furniture pieces are marked by unique stylistic qualities in design and ornamentation, Shearer’s signature, and numerous inscriptions. An 1801 desk-and-bookcase regarded as Shearer’s masterpiece is in collection at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.