Description

Ebony lap secretary (portable writing desk) inlaid with whale ivory tetraskeles (pinwheel shapes), stars, diamonds and lines.  Attributed to Henry Zinke (b. 1835 in France), ship's carpenter in the New Bedford barks Globe (1855-58) and Dominga (1858-62), who made a similarly designed box in the New Bedford Whaling Museum (2001.100.278), which is the basis for the attribution.