Nickerson period, c. 1890

Contemporary authors suggested that a large desk or table serve as the central focus of a library, “the table[s] should be large, substantial, and clear of everything but lamps, books and papers.”* The frieze of Nickerson's leather-topped table is decorated with panels of stop-fluted maple. The corner blocks each feature two full relief carved lion masks with rectangular pendant ‘handles’ while the table legs themselves terminate in carved bestial feet.
*Edith Wharton & Ogden Codman, Jr., The Decoration of Houses, 1898