Gottlieb Vollmer was born in Germany in 1816. His cabinetmaker father came to the United States in 1830—Gottlieb followed in 1832 after completing his apprenticeship. He is first listed in the Philadelphia directories in 1842 as an upholsterer only, but by 1855, he was also listed as a cabinetmaker.

President James Buchanan ordered a suite of Vollmer furniture for the Blue Room of the White House in 1859. The center divan is still in the room, while the rest of the Rococo Revival suite is in the Smithsonian Institution. A wardrobe by Vollmer was exhibited at the Centennial exhibition.

Charles Vollmer, who had been trained in Philadelphia and Paris, took over the firm after Gottlieb died in 1883. The firm was listed as G. Vollmer & Son from 1884 until 1891.

Our Renaissance revival desk belonged to Moore College of Art & Design benefactor Joseph Moore, Jr. and came directly from the Philadelphia art school. Although the desk has storage compartments on both sides, it is not a partners’ desk because the kneehole and slanted top are accessible from only one side.

The exterior is made of the highest quality mahogany with cherry as a secondary wood. Philadelphia’s large community of German woodworkers, including Daniel Pabst, used light woods like maple or birch to line cases made of darker walnut or mahogany. Similarly, Vollmer used white wood for drawer bottoms and compartment dividers. All the locks are stamped “G. Vollmer & Son, Philadelphia, Phila. Pa.”

Although the virtuoso carving is primarily Italian in inspiration, the floret so often found imbedded in earlier Philadelphia Modern Gothic furniture is here set free to form a delicate openwork gallery surmounting the slanted writing surface.