Lot Essay
Of the fifty or more Newport, Rhode Island kneehole desks, or bureau tables as they were referred to in the 18th century, this is the only known example that exhibits a plain front facade in the refined understated manner appreciated by Newport consumers. Similar plain-front bureaus were made in other urban centers, but this is the first known example associated with a Newport cabinetmaker.
This desk is attributed to Edmund Townsend on the basis of design and construction features that correspond to two known signed and labeled Edmund Townsend blockfront kneehole desks. These include a signed desk made before 1760 passed through the Deshon family of Rhode Island and a labeled desk of 1765-1775 is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Moses, Master Craftsman of Newport (New Jersey, 1984), fig. 6.10,6.11).
While some technical features of this bureau are typical of Newport shop practices, specific features link it to Edmund Townsend. Constructed in the same fashion as bureaus made by other Newport artisans, the top is secured to two cleats which are mortised into the case sides and nailed into the top. The profile of the top edge and moldings is identical to the molding on the signed Deshon family desk (Moses, fig. 6.11). The layout of the front feet, designed as a continuous piece separated by a flattened arch rather than made as two separate units, relate to the labeled kneehole desk in the Museum of Fine Arts (Moses, fig. 6.10). In the manner associated with both documented desks, the vertical glue blocks of the feet extend up to the case bottom and are butted by horizontal chamfered blocks. The rear elements, which are shaped in imitation of the foot profile, are rabbeted into the back edge of each rear foot, again in keeping with the construction features of the signed and labeled Edmund Townsend examples.
Some of the design and construction features of this bureau, such as the molding of the top, the continuous front feet and the manner in which the rear foot wraps around to the back in imitation of a molded rear foot are also characteristics shared with the furniture of John Townsend. Working in close proximity, these craftsmen shared or borrowed techniques from one another to create the stately expressions associated with Newport craftmanship as evidence in the manufacture of this desk.
This desk is attributed to Edmund Townsend on the basis of design and construction features that correspond to two known signed and labeled Edmund Townsend blockfront kneehole desks. These include a signed desk made before 1760 passed through the Deshon family of Rhode Island and a labeled desk of 1765-1775 is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Moses, Master Craftsman of Newport (New Jersey, 1984), fig. 6.10,6.11).
While some technical features of this bureau are typical of Newport shop practices, specific features link it to Edmund Townsend. Constructed in the same fashion as bureaus made by other Newport artisans, the top is secured to two cleats which are mortised into the case sides and nailed into the top. The profile of the top edge and moldings is identical to the molding on the signed Deshon family desk (Moses, fig. 6.11). The layout of the front feet, designed as a continuous piece separated by a flattened arch rather than made as two separate units, relate to the labeled kneehole desk in the Museum of Fine Arts (Moses, fig. 6.10). In the manner associated with both documented desks, the vertical glue blocks of the feet extend up to the case bottom and are butted by horizontal chamfered blocks. The rear elements, which are shaped in imitation of the foot profile, are rabbeted into the back edge of each rear foot, again in keeping with the construction features of the signed and labeled Edmund Townsend examples.
Some of the design and construction features of this bureau, such as the molding of the top, the continuous front feet and the manner in which the rear foot wraps around to the back in imitation of a molded rear foot are also characteristics shared with the furniture of John Townsend. Working in close proximity, these craftsmen shared or borrowed techniques from one another to create the stately expressions associated with Newport craftmanship as evidence in the manufacture of this desk.