Lot Essay
The thriving commercial environment of pre-Revolutionary Newport supported the growth and development of successful merchants and tradesmen. These men relied upon each other, one for fashionable statements of wealth, the other for livelihood. This oval drop-leaf dining table illustrates the graceful design and craftsmanship of fine furniture produced by skilled artisans for the mercantile community.
This table descended through a merchant family in Swansea and Somerset, Massachusetts. The distinctive decorative features include graceful creased cabriole legs and ball-and-claw feet with pierced talons. The ball is gripped by the shaped knuckles, yet loosely enough to allow air to pass not only through the talons, but also under the palm, a delicate detail that further enhances the aesthetic beauty of the table. The bulbous form of the rear knuckle as it joins that ankle is associated with the carving of Goddard.
The iron hinges of this table are stamped with the initials "WS". A Walter Sherman worked in Newport at this time with whom braziers conducted business. Walter Sherman may have been a brazier himself, a blacksmith, or an importer who stamped the brasses with his initials (Richardson Scrapbook, #982, Newport Historical Society). A related table sold through Christie's, June 12, 1982, lot 196 was furnished with brasses stamped "JP", possibly made by the Newport blacksmith Jonathan Pierce.
The construction details of this dining table are nearly identical to a documented dining table by John Goddard, see, Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport, The Townsends and Goddards (Tenafly, NJ, 1984), pp. 207, 210, 219. On both tables,the cross braces at each end of the maple substructure pass through the side rails and are secured to the top with screws, and a medial brace is dovetailed to the side rails.
Three virtually identical oval top tables, also attributed to John Goddard, are known. The first sold at Christie's, January 23, 1988, lot 383. The second is illustrated and discussed in Joseph K. Ott, The John Brown House Loan Exhibition of Rhode Island Furniture (Newport, RI, 1965), pp. 58-59, no. 43; the third is noted in James Biddle, American Art from American Collections, (New York, 1963), p. 43, fig. 77.
This table descended through a merchant family in Swansea and Somerset, Massachusetts. The distinctive decorative features include graceful creased cabriole legs and ball-and-claw feet with pierced talons. The ball is gripped by the shaped knuckles, yet loosely enough to allow air to pass not only through the talons, but also under the palm, a delicate detail that further enhances the aesthetic beauty of the table. The bulbous form of the rear knuckle as it joins that ankle is associated with the carving of Goddard.
The iron hinges of this table are stamped with the initials "WS". A Walter Sherman worked in Newport at this time with whom braziers conducted business. Walter Sherman may have been a brazier himself, a blacksmith, or an importer who stamped the brasses with his initials (Richardson Scrapbook, #982, Newport Historical Society). A related table sold through Christie's, June 12, 1982, lot 196 was furnished with brasses stamped "JP", possibly made by the Newport blacksmith Jonathan Pierce.
The construction details of this dining table are nearly identical to a documented dining table by John Goddard, see, Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport, The Townsends and Goddards (Tenafly, NJ, 1984), pp. 207, 210, 219. On both tables,the cross braces at each end of the maple substructure pass through the side rails and are secured to the top with screws, and a medial brace is dovetailed to the side rails.
Three virtually identical oval top tables, also attributed to John Goddard, are known. The first sold at Christie's, January 23, 1988, lot 383. The second is illustrated and discussed in Joseph K. Ott, The John Brown House Loan Exhibition of Rhode Island Furniture (Newport, RI, 1965), pp. 58-59, no. 43; the third is noted in James Biddle, American Art from American Collections, (New York, 1963), p. 43, fig. 77.