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Lot Essay
Illustrating the height of colonial craftsmanship and a witness to the country’s struggle for independence, this bureau table stands as an American masterpiece of rare artistic and historic importance. The table is a previously virtually unknown example of Newport block-and-shell furniture. Its carving and construction details, documentary evidence and family history all point to it being made in 1763 by John Goddard (1724-1785) for one of his most important clients, Deputy Governor Jabez Bowen (1739-1815) (fig. 1). A leading figure in Providence and an ardent patriot, Bowen played a prominent role in Rhode Island’s Revolutionary War effort. This bureau table would have stood in Bowen’s Main (now North Main) Street residence (fig. 9), where in 1776 the Declaration of Independence was read from the balcony and in 1780-1781 hosted the likes of the Comte de Rochambeau and General George Washington. For over two hundred years, the table has remained in the possession of Bowen’s descendants, a treasured family heirloom. Its sale at auction offers the first opportunity to share its remarkable story.
The Bowen Commission
In 1930, just over a hundred years after Jabez Bowen’s death, the bureau table was owned by his great-great-granddaughter Dorothy Flagg Bowen (1892-1974) and was identified at that time by her twin brother as among the furniture made by Goddard for Bowen in 1763.[1] In that year, Jabez Bowen was newly married, a recent Yale graduate and embarking on what was to be a highly successful legal and political career. His wife, Sarah Brown (1742-1800) (fig. 2) was the daughter of Obadiah Brown (1712-1762), one of the founders of the Brown family mercantile firm; she was raised in the same household as her cousins, the famous Brown brothers of Providence: Nicholas (1729-1791), Joseph (1733-1783), John (1736-1803), and Moses (1738-1836) whose father had died when they were young. John Goddard was at that time at the pinnacle of his career and enjoyed the patronage of Rhode Island’s most prominent citizens. Some of his most celebrated forms were made for John Brown in the year of his marriage in 1760 and the mention of “my Brothers Wifes furniture” by Moses Brown in the October 10, 1763 letter discussed below almost certainly refers to Rhoda (Jenckes) Brown (1741-1783), who had wed Moses’ elder brother Nicholas the previous year. Thus, when Sarah Brown and Jabez Bowen married in December 1762, it was in keeping with family precedent to solicit furnishings from Goddard. Three surviving letters from 1763 indicate that Moses Brown served as an intermediary between Bowen and Goddard to acquire furnishings for the newlyweds, including a tea table, now in the collections of Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, long hailed as a benchmark of Goddard’s craft (fig. 3).[2]
The Letters
The correspondence, which is marked by considerable irritation on Brown’s part and with defensive explanations from Goddard in response, mentions a “Buro Table,” very likely a reference to the form offered here. On October 12, 1763, Goddard wrote, “…the only Reaison thou had not the Table sooner was because Cudgo chose to wate for the Chairs and (not) because I had to make or could have £20 more for it and the Buro Table was done Five or Six weeks, before the other Chairs which thous might have had if Called foor…” (fig. 4). Previous scholarship has inferred that the bureau table “thous might have had” was made for Moses Brown’s own use.[3] However, Brown’s letter dated two days earlier begins with a mention of the furniture made for Bowen and thereafter in his complaints about Goddard’s delays Brown uses the words “ours,” “we,” and “us.” As Brown was not yet married and was acting on behalf of Bowen at this time, the plural usage appears to reflect his proprietary role in the commission for Bowen. Thus, in reply, Goddard may have used “thou” to refer to Brown and Bowen collectively.
Furthermore, the above quote suggests that the bureau table was part of a commission that included another table and possibly two sets of chairs and that this other table was the center of a dispute about Goddard trying to sell it elsewhere for £20 more. Brown’s October 10 letter indicates that the table with the £20 controversy was intended for Bowen as Brown discusses it in relation to Bowen becoming increasingly frustrated with the delays in receiving the remainder of his furniture from Goddard (the tea table in figure 3 and six chairs had been delivered on June 30). The same letter also mentions a cherry table and leather chairs paid for by Moses Brown, a detail that could indicate that these forms were for Brown’s own use; however, Brown had already paid Goddard on Bowen’s behalf for the tea table in figure 3, so his direct payment to the cabinetmaker does not preclude the possibility that these forms were also for Bowen. Given that the letters, though written and received by Brown, descended in Jabez Bowen’s family, it is conceivable that all the furniture referenced in these three letters was made for Bowen.[4]
The Carving
Independent of the provenance and letters, distinctive decorative and construction features of the bureau table support an attribution to John Goddard’s shop. The masterfully executed shell carving has interior C-scrolls whose termini entwine around the volutes of the shells’ lowermost ribs, creating a swirling, spiral effect. Remarkably similar treatment is seen on the lid carving of a desk and bookcase at Winterthur Museum and the door carving of a desk and bookcase at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), both attributed to Goddard (figs. 5, 6). Furthermore, closely related renditions with less intricate junctures are seen on the other shells on these same forms, as well as on a third desk and bookcase, also at RISD, that is documented to Goddard in 1761.[5] Patricia E. Kane describes the latter as “the touchstone for the characteristics of John Goddard’s block-and-shell decoration” and notes that all three desk-and-bookcase forms attest to his skills as a cabinetmaker.[6] The same treatment is seen on the work of Daniel Goddard (b. 1747), John’s son. Several bureaus associated with Daniel have shells with similar intricately entwined junctures, sometimes with the volutes being extensions of the C-scrolls rather than the lowermost ribs.[7] Aged sixteen in 1763, Daniel was very likely working in his father’s shop at the time of the Bowen commission. Another distinctive feature is the solid central petal flanked by fluted petals within the C-scroll on this bureau’s concave shell carving. This detail is seen on the door carving of the documented 1761 Goddard desk and bookcase and the lid carving, as well as the concave door carving, of the desk and bookcase attributed to Goddard at Winterthur. It is also seen on the concave door carving of a bureau table signed by Daniel Goddard as well as on a bureau table at Chipstone that shares many of the construction details with the example offered here, discussed below.[8]
The Construction
The construction of the bureau table, like the carving, has close parallels with Goddard’s known work as well as forms associated with those who likely trained in his shop or shared Goddard’s training. The large drawer has its bottom composed of multiple boards set with the grain running from front to back, as is seen on the large drawers on the two desk-and-bookcases at RISD documented or attributed to John Goddard discussed above (the drawer linings of Winterthur’s desk and bookcase are replaced). Of the eight bureau tables in the Rhode Island Furniture Archive that are known to display the same practice, five are linked to specific cabinetmakers: Daniel Goddard and John Goddard’s nephews James Goddard (b. 1752) and Thomas Spencer (1752-1840).[9] The other three bureau tables were almost certainly made in a single shop and, as argued here, that shop was very likely John Goddard’s. These three comprise the example offered here, one that descended from John Goddard’s daughter, and a third at Chipstone with similar shell carving noted above. In addition to the drawer bottom grain going from front to back, all feature two battens supporting the top, a semi-circular block attached to the interior of the drawer front behind the concave shell (to add strength to the thinnest section of the board) (fig. 7), and a framed rather than solid cupboard door.[10] As all three have distinct ties to Goddard through family history and/or carved details, it is likely that their shared construction reflects a common origin in his shop.
Two uncommon details further support Goddard's authorship. The application of a facing strip on the front edges of the case sides is an unusual finishing touch that concealed the exposed dovetails of the drawer dividers. It is a practice commonly seen in Massachusetts, but rarely in Newport where cabinetmakers generally left the dividers’ dovetails visible. At least one other Newport bureau table appears to feature these strips, a piece loosely associated with Edmund Townsend (1736-1811), who like Goddard, trained under Job Townsend, Sr. (1699-1765).[11] Furthermore, the bottom board is not quite flush with the lowermost edge of the base moldings. Thus, to fill the gap, the maker of this bureau table added thin platforms underneath the supporting glueblocks. Similar platforms are seen on a desk-and-bookcase made for Goddard's known friend and neighbor, Thomas Robinson (1730-1817).[12]
Deputy Governor Jabez Bowen
Like his wife, Jabez Bowen hailed from a prominent and wealthy Rhode Island family. His father, Dr. Ephraim Bowen (1716-1812), was a physician as were many of his immediate and extended family. Jabez graduated from Yale in 1757 and returned to Providence where he practiced as a lawyer, while also engaging in trade with the Brown brothers. As the country moved toward war in the 1770s, Bowen became increasingly involved in the state’s political and military leadership. He served on the Providence town council, the General Assembly and the Providence militia, in which he held the rank of colonel of the First Regiment of Providence County. He was also a delegate to the Continental Congress, Superior Court Judge, Chief Justice and aside from one year, Deputy Governor of Rhode Island from 1778 to 1786. After the war, he was an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati, a chancellor of Brown University and a member of the convention that adopted the United States Constitution in 1790.[13]
As mentioned above, Bowen’s home played a significant role during the Revolution. A three-story structure built in about 1745, the residence was centrally located on Main Street in Providence’s Market Square (figs. 8, 9).[14] Torn down in about 1850, it was sketched two years earlier by historian Benson J. Lossing, who described its role in the city’s public life before, during and after the Revolution:
From the same balcony were read the proclamation announcing the accession of George III. to the throne in 1760; the odious Stamp Act in 1765; the bill for its repeal in 1766; and the Declaration of Independence in 1776. That balcony seemed to be the forum of the people; and many excited audiences have crowded Market Square, in front of it, to listen to patriotic speeches.[15]
In June 1780, the French army arrived in Rhode Island under the command of General Rochambeau, who during his time in America was a frequent guest of the Bowens. General Washington came to Providence on March 14, 1781 where he stayed at their house and received an address on behalf of the citizens of Rhode Island. Washington responded, noting “The determination you are pleased to express of making every effort for giving vigor to our military operations is consonant with the Spirit that has uniformly actuated this state.”[16] A few months later, en route to Yorktown, Rochambeau and his troops spent several days in Providence and the French general once again stayed with the Bowens while the nearby Market House was used to store baggage.[17]
In addition to Copley’s portraits and the tea table in figs. 1-3, this bureau table stood alongside other significant works, including two Providence-made block-and-shell forms: a tall-case clock, offered in the following lot, and a chest-on-chest attributed to Goddard’s nephew Daniel Spencer (1741-1796) and now in the collections of the Chipstone Foundation.[18]
The History
Over the course of two hundred years, the bureau table has descended from Jabez Bowen through five generations, passing primarily along female lines, and is being sold by the family of a direct descendant.[19] By the will of Ednah Goodhue Bowen (1848-1913) (discussed below), the table is known to have been owned by Jabez’s granddaughter, Mary Demont Bowen (1799-1878), who may have inherited it from her parents or directly from her grandfather. Mary’s father, Oliver Bowen (1767-1804), died suddenly when Mary was only five, and her mother, Rebecca (Demont) Bowen (1777-1860), served as an administrator alongside Jabez Bowen in the lengthy and protracted settlement of Oliver’s estate.[20] The bureau table may have passed to Oliver or Rebecca prior to Jabez’s death, or subsequently inherited by Rebecca. Mary may also have received it directly from her grandfather. In his will, Jabez Bowen bequeathed property to be divided among his son Oliver’s three children, including Mary, in addition to providing for Rebecca.[21]
Mary never married and lived with her mother at 41 College Street, less than two blocks from Jabez’s house. She is recorded at this address in 1865, just two doors away from her first cousin William Horatio Bowen (1824-1897) whose daughter, Ednah Goodhue Bowen, inherited the bureau table upon Mary’s death in 1878.[22] Like Mary, Ednah remained single throughout her life. She was a teacher and principal at the Lincoln School until at least 1906 and by 1910, she had moved to Boston where she died in 1913.[23] In her will, she gives “a piece of furniture left to me by the will of Mary Demont Bowen… to Dorothy F. Bowen, daughter of my brother Henry,” thus identifying the line of descent of the table. Since that time, the bureau table has remained in the possession of Dorothy Flagg Bowen and her descendants.
[1] Donald F. Bowen, “A Clock Case by John Goddard,” The Antiquarian (August 1930), p. 37.
[2] Wendy A. Cooper and Tara L. Gleason, “A Different Rhode Island Block-and-Shell Story: Providence Provenances and Pitch-Pediments,” American Furniture 1999, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1999), pp. 171-173; the letters are in the collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society and are transcribed in part in Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport: The Townsends and Goddards (Tenafly, New Jersey, 1984), pp. 196-197.
[3] Brock Jobe, “The Lisle Desk-and-Bookcase: A Rhode Island Icon,” American Furniture 2001, edited by Luke Beckerdite (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2001), p. 142; Moses, p. 198. Note, these observations were made without the knowledge of the bureau table offered here. There are no surviving bureau tables that are known to have been owned by Moses Brown.
[4] Complicating the interpretation of the three letters, dated June 30, October 10 and October 12, is the fact that they are an incomplete record of the communication among Brown, Goddard, and Bowen. Goddard refers to a “Bill,” Brown mentions a letter from Goddard dated October 4 and both indicate that Bowen and Goddard also corresponded directly. None of these documents are known to survive (a transcription of a letter from Goddard to Brown said to be dated October 4, 1763 is in Ralph E. Carpenter, The Arts and Crafts of Newport, Rhode Island 1640-1820, p. 14, but the text is that of the June 30 letter). The descent of the letters is noted in Moses, p. 196. Moses Brown’s payment to Goddard for the tea table in figure 3 and six chairs is cited in Amy Coes, “A Bill of Sale from John Goddard to John Brown and the Furniture it Documents,” The Magazine Antiques (May 2006), p. 130. Michael Moses associates a set of chairs with Moses Brown provenance with the “leather chairs” reference in the October 12 letter; however, these are now attributed to Massachusetts and dated prior to 1760 (see Moses, p. 205, fig. 4.5; Rhode Island Furniture Archive (RIFA), no. RIF3993).
[5] For the three desk-and-bookcases, see RIFA, nos. RIF1229, RIF1233, and RIF1228.
[6] Patricia E. Kane, catalogue entry, Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830 (New Haven, Conn., 2016), pp. 298, 300.
[7] See RIFA, nos. RIF678, RIF2276, and RIF341.
[8] For the forms with solid central petals, see RIFA, nos. RIF1228, RIF1229, RIF678, and RIF959.
[9] See RIFA, nos. RIF792, RIF678, RIF107, RIF5621, and RIF1234.
[10] See RIFA, nos. RIF635 and RIF959 for the other two bureau tables that appear to have been made in the same shop as the bureau table offered here.
[11] RIFA, no. RIF682.
[12] See RIFA, no. RIF454.
[13] J. Montgomery Seaver, Bowen Genealogy (Philadelphia, 1931), pp. 32-33; For Bowen’s Society of Cincinnati membership, see Ellen McCallister Clark, Sandra L. Powers, and E. K. Hong, Rhode Island in the American Revolution (Anderson House, Washington D.C., 2001), p. 32; “No Bear Raids Disturb the Market for Antiques,” The Selma-Times Journal, January 24, 1930, p. 4.
[14] Cooper and Gleason, pp. 172, 173, fig. 8.
[15] Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution, vol. I (1850), p. 626, available at https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~wcarr1/history/Lossing1/Chap27.html.
[16] George Washington to Jabez Bowen, March 14, 1781, available at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-05121; see also, Providence Gazette, March 17, 1781, p. 3.
[17] John Hutchins Cady, The Civic and Architectural Development of Providence 1636-1950 (Providence, 1957), pp. 48, 54; Robert A. Selig, The Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route in the State of Rhode Island, 1780-1783” (2006; updated 2015), available at http://w3r-archive.org/history/library/seligreptri1.pdf;
[18] See RIFA, nos. RIF2108 and RIF281.
[19] For the Bowen descendants in the provenance of the bureau table, see Seaver, pp. 33-35.
[20] See Rhode Island, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, Providence, Rhode Island, 17 December 1804, case A3717, available at ancestry.com; Providence Gazette, November 1, 1806, p. 4;
[21] Typed transcript of Jabez Bowen’s 1807 will, family papers. See also “Truman Beckwith House,” Historic American Building Survey (HABS), no. RI-21, available at https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/ri/ri0200/ri0273/data/ri0273data.pdf; and “John Whipple House,” HABS, no. RI-208, available at https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/ri/ri0200/ri0273/data/ri0273data.pdf.
[22] Providence, Rhode Island, City Directory, 1847; Rhode Island, U.S. State Censuses, Providence, June 1, 1865, vol. 5, p. 80, available at ancestry.com.
[23] Providence, Rhode Island, City Directory, 1890-1892; 1910 US Federal Census.
The Bowen Commission
In 1930, just over a hundred years after Jabez Bowen’s death, the bureau table was owned by his great-great-granddaughter Dorothy Flagg Bowen (1892-1974) and was identified at that time by her twin brother as among the furniture made by Goddard for Bowen in 1763.[1] In that year, Jabez Bowen was newly married, a recent Yale graduate and embarking on what was to be a highly successful legal and political career. His wife, Sarah Brown (1742-1800) (fig. 2) was the daughter of Obadiah Brown (1712-1762), one of the founders of the Brown family mercantile firm; she was raised in the same household as her cousins, the famous Brown brothers of Providence: Nicholas (1729-1791), Joseph (1733-1783), John (1736-1803), and Moses (1738-1836) whose father had died when they were young. John Goddard was at that time at the pinnacle of his career and enjoyed the patronage of Rhode Island’s most prominent citizens. Some of his most celebrated forms were made for John Brown in the year of his marriage in 1760 and the mention of “my Brothers Wifes furniture” by Moses Brown in the October 10, 1763 letter discussed below almost certainly refers to Rhoda (Jenckes) Brown (1741-1783), who had wed Moses’ elder brother Nicholas the previous year. Thus, when Sarah Brown and Jabez Bowen married in December 1762, it was in keeping with family precedent to solicit furnishings from Goddard. Three surviving letters from 1763 indicate that Moses Brown served as an intermediary between Bowen and Goddard to acquire furnishings for the newlyweds, including a tea table, now in the collections of Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, long hailed as a benchmark of Goddard’s craft (fig. 3).[2]
The Letters
The correspondence, which is marked by considerable irritation on Brown’s part and with defensive explanations from Goddard in response, mentions a “Buro Table,” very likely a reference to the form offered here. On October 12, 1763, Goddard wrote, “…the only Reaison thou had not the Table sooner was because Cudgo chose to wate for the Chairs and (not) because I had to make or could have £20 more for it and the Buro Table was done Five or Six weeks, before the other Chairs which thous might have had if Called foor…” (fig. 4). Previous scholarship has inferred that the bureau table “thous might have had” was made for Moses Brown’s own use.[3] However, Brown’s letter dated two days earlier begins with a mention of the furniture made for Bowen and thereafter in his complaints about Goddard’s delays Brown uses the words “ours,” “we,” and “us.” As Brown was not yet married and was acting on behalf of Bowen at this time, the plural usage appears to reflect his proprietary role in the commission for Bowen. Thus, in reply, Goddard may have used “thou” to refer to Brown and Bowen collectively.
Furthermore, the above quote suggests that the bureau table was part of a commission that included another table and possibly two sets of chairs and that this other table was the center of a dispute about Goddard trying to sell it elsewhere for £20 more. Brown’s October 10 letter indicates that the table with the £20 controversy was intended for Bowen as Brown discusses it in relation to Bowen becoming increasingly frustrated with the delays in receiving the remainder of his furniture from Goddard (the tea table in figure 3 and six chairs had been delivered on June 30). The same letter also mentions a cherry table and leather chairs paid for by Moses Brown, a detail that could indicate that these forms were for Brown’s own use; however, Brown had already paid Goddard on Bowen’s behalf for the tea table in figure 3, so his direct payment to the cabinetmaker does not preclude the possibility that these forms were also for Bowen. Given that the letters, though written and received by Brown, descended in Jabez Bowen’s family, it is conceivable that all the furniture referenced in these three letters was made for Bowen.[4]
The Carving
Independent of the provenance and letters, distinctive decorative and construction features of the bureau table support an attribution to John Goddard’s shop. The masterfully executed shell carving has interior C-scrolls whose termini entwine around the volutes of the shells’ lowermost ribs, creating a swirling, spiral effect. Remarkably similar treatment is seen on the lid carving of a desk and bookcase at Winterthur Museum and the door carving of a desk and bookcase at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), both attributed to Goddard (figs. 5, 6). Furthermore, closely related renditions with less intricate junctures are seen on the other shells on these same forms, as well as on a third desk and bookcase, also at RISD, that is documented to Goddard in 1761.[5] Patricia E. Kane describes the latter as “the touchstone for the characteristics of John Goddard’s block-and-shell decoration” and notes that all three desk-and-bookcase forms attest to his skills as a cabinetmaker.[6] The same treatment is seen on the work of Daniel Goddard (b. 1747), John’s son. Several bureaus associated with Daniel have shells with similar intricately entwined junctures, sometimes with the volutes being extensions of the C-scrolls rather than the lowermost ribs.[7] Aged sixteen in 1763, Daniel was very likely working in his father’s shop at the time of the Bowen commission. Another distinctive feature is the solid central petal flanked by fluted petals within the C-scroll on this bureau’s concave shell carving. This detail is seen on the door carving of the documented 1761 Goddard desk and bookcase and the lid carving, as well as the concave door carving, of the desk and bookcase attributed to Goddard at Winterthur. It is also seen on the concave door carving of a bureau table signed by Daniel Goddard as well as on a bureau table at Chipstone that shares many of the construction details with the example offered here, discussed below.[8]
The Construction
The construction of the bureau table, like the carving, has close parallels with Goddard’s known work as well as forms associated with those who likely trained in his shop or shared Goddard’s training. The large drawer has its bottom composed of multiple boards set with the grain running from front to back, as is seen on the large drawers on the two desk-and-bookcases at RISD documented or attributed to John Goddard discussed above (the drawer linings of Winterthur’s desk and bookcase are replaced). Of the eight bureau tables in the Rhode Island Furniture Archive that are known to display the same practice, five are linked to specific cabinetmakers: Daniel Goddard and John Goddard’s nephews James Goddard (b. 1752) and Thomas Spencer (1752-1840).[9] The other three bureau tables were almost certainly made in a single shop and, as argued here, that shop was very likely John Goddard’s. These three comprise the example offered here, one that descended from John Goddard’s daughter, and a third at Chipstone with similar shell carving noted above. In addition to the drawer bottom grain going from front to back, all feature two battens supporting the top, a semi-circular block attached to the interior of the drawer front behind the concave shell (to add strength to the thinnest section of the board) (fig. 7), and a framed rather than solid cupboard door.[10] As all three have distinct ties to Goddard through family history and/or carved details, it is likely that their shared construction reflects a common origin in his shop.
Two uncommon details further support Goddard's authorship. The application of a facing strip on the front edges of the case sides is an unusual finishing touch that concealed the exposed dovetails of the drawer dividers. It is a practice commonly seen in Massachusetts, but rarely in Newport where cabinetmakers generally left the dividers’ dovetails visible. At least one other Newport bureau table appears to feature these strips, a piece loosely associated with Edmund Townsend (1736-1811), who like Goddard, trained under Job Townsend, Sr. (1699-1765).[11] Furthermore, the bottom board is not quite flush with the lowermost edge of the base moldings. Thus, to fill the gap, the maker of this bureau table added thin platforms underneath the supporting glueblocks. Similar platforms are seen on a desk-and-bookcase made for Goddard's known friend and neighbor, Thomas Robinson (1730-1817).[12]
Deputy Governor Jabez Bowen
Like his wife, Jabez Bowen hailed from a prominent and wealthy Rhode Island family. His father, Dr. Ephraim Bowen (1716-1812), was a physician as were many of his immediate and extended family. Jabez graduated from Yale in 1757 and returned to Providence where he practiced as a lawyer, while also engaging in trade with the Brown brothers. As the country moved toward war in the 1770s, Bowen became increasingly involved in the state’s political and military leadership. He served on the Providence town council, the General Assembly and the Providence militia, in which he held the rank of colonel of the First Regiment of Providence County. He was also a delegate to the Continental Congress, Superior Court Judge, Chief Justice and aside from one year, Deputy Governor of Rhode Island from 1778 to 1786. After the war, he was an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati, a chancellor of Brown University and a member of the convention that adopted the United States Constitution in 1790.[13]
As mentioned above, Bowen’s home played a significant role during the Revolution. A three-story structure built in about 1745, the residence was centrally located on Main Street in Providence’s Market Square (figs. 8, 9).[14] Torn down in about 1850, it was sketched two years earlier by historian Benson J. Lossing, who described its role in the city’s public life before, during and after the Revolution:
From the same balcony were read the proclamation announcing the accession of George III. to the throne in 1760; the odious Stamp Act in 1765; the bill for its repeal in 1766; and the Declaration of Independence in 1776. That balcony seemed to be the forum of the people; and many excited audiences have crowded Market Square, in front of it, to listen to patriotic speeches.[15]
In June 1780, the French army arrived in Rhode Island under the command of General Rochambeau, who during his time in America was a frequent guest of the Bowens. General Washington came to Providence on March 14, 1781 where he stayed at their house and received an address on behalf of the citizens of Rhode Island. Washington responded, noting “The determination you are pleased to express of making every effort for giving vigor to our military operations is consonant with the Spirit that has uniformly actuated this state.”[16] A few months later, en route to Yorktown, Rochambeau and his troops spent several days in Providence and the French general once again stayed with the Bowens while the nearby Market House was used to store baggage.[17]
In addition to Copley’s portraits and the tea table in figs. 1-3, this bureau table stood alongside other significant works, including two Providence-made block-and-shell forms: a tall-case clock, offered in the following lot, and a chest-on-chest attributed to Goddard’s nephew Daniel Spencer (1741-1796) and now in the collections of the Chipstone Foundation.[18]
The History
Over the course of two hundred years, the bureau table has descended from Jabez Bowen through five generations, passing primarily along female lines, and is being sold by the family of a direct descendant.[19] By the will of Ednah Goodhue Bowen (1848-1913) (discussed below), the table is known to have been owned by Jabez’s granddaughter, Mary Demont Bowen (1799-1878), who may have inherited it from her parents or directly from her grandfather. Mary’s father, Oliver Bowen (1767-1804), died suddenly when Mary was only five, and her mother, Rebecca (Demont) Bowen (1777-1860), served as an administrator alongside Jabez Bowen in the lengthy and protracted settlement of Oliver’s estate.[20] The bureau table may have passed to Oliver or Rebecca prior to Jabez’s death, or subsequently inherited by Rebecca. Mary may also have received it directly from her grandfather. In his will, Jabez Bowen bequeathed property to be divided among his son Oliver’s three children, including Mary, in addition to providing for Rebecca.[21]
Mary never married and lived with her mother at 41 College Street, less than two blocks from Jabez’s house. She is recorded at this address in 1865, just two doors away from her first cousin William Horatio Bowen (1824-1897) whose daughter, Ednah Goodhue Bowen, inherited the bureau table upon Mary’s death in 1878.[22] Like Mary, Ednah remained single throughout her life. She was a teacher and principal at the Lincoln School until at least 1906 and by 1910, she had moved to Boston where she died in 1913.[23] In her will, she gives “a piece of furniture left to me by the will of Mary Demont Bowen… to Dorothy F. Bowen, daughter of my brother Henry,” thus identifying the line of descent of the table. Since that time, the bureau table has remained in the possession of Dorothy Flagg Bowen and her descendants.
[1] Donald F. Bowen, “A Clock Case by John Goddard,” The Antiquarian (August 1930), p. 37.
[2] Wendy A. Cooper and Tara L. Gleason, “A Different Rhode Island Block-and-Shell Story: Providence Provenances and Pitch-Pediments,” American Furniture 1999, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1999), pp. 171-173; the letters are in the collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society and are transcribed in part in Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport: The Townsends and Goddards (Tenafly, New Jersey, 1984), pp. 196-197.
[3] Brock Jobe, “The Lisle Desk-and-Bookcase: A Rhode Island Icon,” American Furniture 2001, edited by Luke Beckerdite (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2001), p. 142; Moses, p. 198. Note, these observations were made without the knowledge of the bureau table offered here. There are no surviving bureau tables that are known to have been owned by Moses Brown.
[4] Complicating the interpretation of the three letters, dated June 30, October 10 and October 12, is the fact that they are an incomplete record of the communication among Brown, Goddard, and Bowen. Goddard refers to a “Bill,” Brown mentions a letter from Goddard dated October 4 and both indicate that Bowen and Goddard also corresponded directly. None of these documents are known to survive (a transcription of a letter from Goddard to Brown said to be dated October 4, 1763 is in Ralph E. Carpenter, The Arts and Crafts of Newport, Rhode Island 1640-1820, p. 14, but the text is that of the June 30 letter). The descent of the letters is noted in Moses, p. 196. Moses Brown’s payment to Goddard for the tea table in figure 3 and six chairs is cited in Amy Coes, “A Bill of Sale from John Goddard to John Brown and the Furniture it Documents,” The Magazine Antiques (May 2006), p. 130. Michael Moses associates a set of chairs with Moses Brown provenance with the “leather chairs” reference in the October 12 letter; however, these are now attributed to Massachusetts and dated prior to 1760 (see Moses, p. 205, fig. 4.5; Rhode Island Furniture Archive (RIFA), no. RIF3993).
[5] For the three desk-and-bookcases, see RIFA, nos. RIF1229, RIF1233, and RIF1228.
[6] Patricia E. Kane, catalogue entry, Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830 (New Haven, Conn., 2016), pp. 298, 300.
[7] See RIFA, nos. RIF678, RIF2276, and RIF341.
[8] For the forms with solid central petals, see RIFA, nos. RIF1228, RIF1229, RIF678, and RIF959.
[9] See RIFA, nos. RIF792, RIF678, RIF107, RIF5621, and RIF1234.
[10] See RIFA, nos. RIF635 and RIF959 for the other two bureau tables that appear to have been made in the same shop as the bureau table offered here.
[11] RIFA, no. RIF682.
[12] See RIFA, no. RIF454.
[13] J. Montgomery Seaver, Bowen Genealogy (Philadelphia, 1931), pp. 32-33; For Bowen’s Society of Cincinnati membership, see Ellen McCallister Clark, Sandra L. Powers, and E. K. Hong, Rhode Island in the American Revolution (Anderson House, Washington D.C., 2001), p. 32; “No Bear Raids Disturb the Market for Antiques,” The Selma-Times Journal, January 24, 1930, p. 4.
[14] Cooper and Gleason, pp. 172, 173, fig. 8.
[15] Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution, vol. I (1850), p. 626, available at https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~wcarr1/history/Lossing1/Chap27.html.
[16] George Washington to Jabez Bowen, March 14, 1781, available at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-05121; see also, Providence Gazette, March 17, 1781, p. 3.
[17] John Hutchins Cady, The Civic and Architectural Development of Providence 1636-1950 (Providence, 1957), pp. 48, 54; Robert A. Selig, The Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route in the State of Rhode Island, 1780-1783” (2006; updated 2015), available at http://w3r-archive.org/history/library/seligreptri1.pdf;
[18] See RIFA, nos. RIF2108 and RIF281.
[19] For the Bowen descendants in the provenance of the bureau table, see Seaver, pp. 33-35.
[20] See Rhode Island, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, Providence, Rhode Island, 17 December 1804, case A3717, available at ancestry.com; Providence Gazette, November 1, 1806, p. 4;
[21] Typed transcript of Jabez Bowen’s 1807 will, family papers. See also “Truman Beckwith House,” Historic American Building Survey (HABS), no. RI-21, available at https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/ri/ri0200/ri0273/data/ri0273data.pdf; and “John Whipple House,” HABS, no. RI-208, available at https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/ri/ri0200/ri0273/data/ri0273data.pdf.
[22] Providence, Rhode Island, City Directory, 1847; Rhode Island, U.S. State Censuses, Providence, June 1, 1865, vol. 5, p. 80, available at ancestry.com.
[23] Providence, Rhode Island, City Directory, 1890-1892; 1910 US Federal Census.