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Lot Essay
[I have compleated the Tea Table, and have the other Tables and Chairs in good Forwordness."
--John Goddard to John Brown, 29 August 1760
A documented masterpiece, this diminutive drop-leaf table displays the exceptional talents of renowned Newport cabinetmaker John Goddard (1724-1785) and provides a rare window into the commission, execution and pricing of high-style American furniture during the eighteenth century. With its history of descent from Providence merchant John Brown (1736-1803) (fig. 1), this table is one of the "2 Do [Mahogany]: Square Leaf & Claw Feet Tables" priced at £70 each in a 1760 bill of sale (fig. 2) from the cabinetmaker to Brown, one of his most important clients. The bill lists seven forms, of which four, including the table offered here, are known today. The "Scolluped Tea Table" at £90 and one of the "Roundabout Chairs" at £60 are in the John Brown House at the Rhode Island Historical Society, a mansion built by Brown in 1786. The other chair has recently been placed on loan at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (fig. 3). Along with another drop-leaf table (presumably a mate to the table offered here), a tea table at £45 and a "Compas Front Dressing Table" at £125, these pieces were commissioned in the months preceding Brown's marriage to Sarah Smith (1738-1825) on 27 November 1760. Brown had probably placed the order during the previous summer; by the end of August, Goddard had finished the tea table and the other items, including presumably the table offered here, were in "good Forwordness." According to notations on the bill, five of the pieces, including this table, were completed in October and the other two in December. The large commission totalled £520 in Rhode Island currency and was settled in two cash payments and "By a Firkin Butter" (Amy Coes, "A Bill of Sale from John Goddard to John Brown and the Furniture It Documents," The Magazine Antiques (May 2006), p. 130; Wendy A. Cooper, "The Purchase of Furniture and Furnishings by John Brown, Providence Merchant," The Magazine Antiques (February 1973), p. 333). Interestingly and perhaps due to its use of expanses of dense, figured mahogany boards, the table offered here was priced slightly higher than the roundabout corner chairs, which with their deep, serpentine-shaped seat rails are now among the most celebrated forms from eighteenth-century America.
The foot carving on this table is particularly masterful. Vigorously carved with expertly modeled talons, raised tendons and attenuated claws, the feet have survived in remarkably good condition. They appear to retain their original height, thus revealing the full extent of the delicately rendered claws, and the carved details, such as the arched shaping of each talon at the top of the claw, are especially crisp. The feet are virtually identical to those on the roundabout chairs from Goddard's 1760 bill, confirming their contemporaneous production by the same hand (fig. 3a). Closely related feet are seen on other forms documented to Goddard (see below) and, using these as benchmarks, scholars have identified Goddard's style, especially as it compares to that of his kinsman and competitor, John Townsend (1733-1809). With rounded and evenly spaced knuckles, "relaxed birdlike claws," and a pronounced bulb at the top of the rear talon, Goddard's foot carving contrasts with the more angular renditions produced by Townsend (Liza Moses and Michael Moses, "Authenticating John Townsend's and John Goddard's Queen Anne and Chippendale tables," The Magazine Antiques (May 1982), p. 1132; Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport: The Townsends and Goddards (New Jersey, 1984), p. 210; Philip Zea, "The Serpentine Furniture of Colonial Newport," American Furniture 1999, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Wisconsin, 1999), p. 262).
This table also reveals new information about the practices of John Goddard's shop. Goddard has long been associated with the use of cross braces that "pass-through" both the stationary and fly rails on drop-leaf table forms, as such braces are seen on a table long thought to be that referenced in a 1774 bill of sale from Goddard to James Atkinson. However, recent research reveals that the table's descent in the Atkinson family is no longer certain and thus its documentation to Goddard remains conjectural (Coes, p. 132). As noted by Coes, the table offered here may be the only drop-leaf table documented to Goddard and interestingly, perhaps because of its small frame, it lacks cross braces entirely. Displaying "pass-through" cross braces and slightly different dimensions, another drop-leaf table that descended in the Brown family and now in a private collection is very close to the example offered here. Although the overall sizes are comparable, that in a private collection has a wider frame. It is twice inscribed "2" in chalk, suggesting that like the table offered here, it too was made as one of a pair (Keno Auctions, Stamford, Connecticut, 1 May 2010, lot 253).
Unlike John Townsend, Goddard rarely signed or labeled his furniture and this table is one of only ten pieces of furniture that can be firmly ascribed to his shop. These pieces comprise three early slant-front desks--each signed, labeled or bearing evidence of a signature--and seven pieces in the following bills of sale: 1755, a slab-table to Anthony Low; 1760, a scalloped tea table, two roundabout chairs and the drop-leaf table offered here, to John Brown; 1763, a tea table to Jabez Bowen; 1774, a fly tea table to James Atkinson (Coes, pp. 129-130, 132, fn. 2; for the desks, see Christie's, New York, Property from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Nusrala, 21 January 2006, lot 680; for the Low table, see Christie's, New York, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph K. Ott, 20 January 2012, lot 139; for the Bowen tea table, see Nancy E. Richards and Nancy Goyne Evans, New England Furniture at Winterthur: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods (Delaware, 1997), pp. 238-240, cat. 123; for the Atkinson table, see Sotheby's, New York, 20-21, 23 January 2005, lot 1201).
Along with his three brothers, Nicholas (1729-1791), Joseph (1733-1785) and Moses (1738-1836), John Brown was one of the leading merchants of late eighteenth-century America. Through their family's vast shipping empire and investments in local enterprises, the Brown brothers obtained enormous wealth and in 1795, John was described by a visitor as "the richest merchant in Providence." They were prominent figures in Rhode Island's civic and political life and John served as treasurer of the College of Rhode Island (later Brown University), was elected to Congress and funded key projects supporting the State's infrastructure (Cooper, pp. 329, 331). As indicated by Goddard's 1760 bill, John had already amassed substantial means at the age of twenty-four. The same year, he built a 40 by 36 brick house on Water Street (now South Main Street), and the table offered here and the other items from the same bill undoubtedly were made to furnish this home. John and his family lived on Water Street until 1788, when they moved to the newly completed mansion on Power Street, now run by the Rhode Island Historical Society as The John Brown House (Cooper, p. 331).
This table, along with the vast majority of surviving furnishings first owned by John Brown, was inherited by John Brown's daughter, Sarah 'Sally' (1773-1846) (fig. 4), who in 1801 married German-born Charles Frederick Herreshoff (1763-1819). A talented musician with interests in mathematics and astronomy, Sarah may have received the table after her mother's death in 1825 or it may have been among the furnishings of Point Pleasant Farm, a property on Poppasquash Neck in Bristol that John Brown purchased in 1781 and gave to his daughter as a wedding present. Sarah (Brown) Herreshoff lived on the farm until her death in 1846 and it continued to be occupied by her descendants until 1917 (Richard V. Simpson, "Point Pleasant Farm," Historic Bristol: Tales From an Old Rhode Island Seaport (2008), pp. 31-33). This table as well as the other three items from the 1760 bill appear to have descended together to her son, Charles Frederick Herreshoff III (1809-1888) until divided among his children, with this table passing to his daughter Caroline Louisa (1837-1924), widow of Lieutenant Ebenezer Stanton Chesebrough (1841-1875). She outlived her only child and this table passed to her grandson, Westcote Herreshoff Chesebrough (1908-1979), who was living with her on Hope Street in Bristol in 1920 (Thomas Williams Bicknell, The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, vol. 4 (New York, 1920), p. 327; 1920 US Federal Census). The latter inherited a large number of furnishings from John Brown, his great-great-great grandfather, and placed them in storage in Providence in 1929. Forty-five years later, these items were sold at auction in Newport, where the table offered here was purchased by Israel Sack, Inc. for $20,000 ("Auction Worth $150,000," Newport Mercury, 19 July 1974, p. 3).
--John Goddard to John Brown, 29 August 1760
A documented masterpiece, this diminutive drop-leaf table displays the exceptional talents of renowned Newport cabinetmaker John Goddard (1724-1785) and provides a rare window into the commission, execution and pricing of high-style American furniture during the eighteenth century. With its history of descent from Providence merchant John Brown (1736-1803) (fig. 1), this table is one of the "2 Do [Mahogany]: Square Leaf & Claw Feet Tables" priced at £70 each in a 1760 bill of sale (fig. 2) from the cabinetmaker to Brown, one of his most important clients. The bill lists seven forms, of which four, including the table offered here, are known today. The "Scolluped Tea Table" at £90 and one of the "Roundabout Chairs" at £60 are in the John Brown House at the Rhode Island Historical Society, a mansion built by Brown in 1786. The other chair has recently been placed on loan at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (fig. 3). Along with another drop-leaf table (presumably a mate to the table offered here), a tea table at £45 and a "Compas Front Dressing Table" at £125, these pieces were commissioned in the months preceding Brown's marriage to Sarah Smith (1738-1825) on 27 November 1760. Brown had probably placed the order during the previous summer; by the end of August, Goddard had finished the tea table and the other items, including presumably the table offered here, were in "good Forwordness." According to notations on the bill, five of the pieces, including this table, were completed in October and the other two in December. The large commission totalled £520 in Rhode Island currency and was settled in two cash payments and "By a Firkin Butter" (Amy Coes, "A Bill of Sale from John Goddard to John Brown and the Furniture It Documents," The Magazine Antiques (May 2006), p. 130; Wendy A. Cooper, "The Purchase of Furniture and Furnishings by John Brown, Providence Merchant," The Magazine Antiques (February 1973), p. 333). Interestingly and perhaps due to its use of expanses of dense, figured mahogany boards, the table offered here was priced slightly higher than the roundabout corner chairs, which with their deep, serpentine-shaped seat rails are now among the most celebrated forms from eighteenth-century America.
The foot carving on this table is particularly masterful. Vigorously carved with expertly modeled talons, raised tendons and attenuated claws, the feet have survived in remarkably good condition. They appear to retain their original height, thus revealing the full extent of the delicately rendered claws, and the carved details, such as the arched shaping of each talon at the top of the claw, are especially crisp. The feet are virtually identical to those on the roundabout chairs from Goddard's 1760 bill, confirming their contemporaneous production by the same hand (fig. 3a). Closely related feet are seen on other forms documented to Goddard (see below) and, using these as benchmarks, scholars have identified Goddard's style, especially as it compares to that of his kinsman and competitor, John Townsend (1733-1809). With rounded and evenly spaced knuckles, "relaxed birdlike claws," and a pronounced bulb at the top of the rear talon, Goddard's foot carving contrasts with the more angular renditions produced by Townsend (Liza Moses and Michael Moses, "Authenticating John Townsend's and John Goddard's Queen Anne and Chippendale tables," The Magazine Antiques (May 1982), p. 1132; Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport: The Townsends and Goddards (New Jersey, 1984), p. 210; Philip Zea, "The Serpentine Furniture of Colonial Newport," American Furniture 1999, Luke Beckerdite, ed. (Wisconsin, 1999), p. 262).
This table also reveals new information about the practices of John Goddard's shop. Goddard has long been associated with the use of cross braces that "pass-through" both the stationary and fly rails on drop-leaf table forms, as such braces are seen on a table long thought to be that referenced in a 1774 bill of sale from Goddard to James Atkinson. However, recent research reveals that the table's descent in the Atkinson family is no longer certain and thus its documentation to Goddard remains conjectural (Coes, p. 132). As noted by Coes, the table offered here may be the only drop-leaf table documented to Goddard and interestingly, perhaps because of its small frame, it lacks cross braces entirely. Displaying "pass-through" cross braces and slightly different dimensions, another drop-leaf table that descended in the Brown family and now in a private collection is very close to the example offered here. Although the overall sizes are comparable, that in a private collection has a wider frame. It is twice inscribed "2" in chalk, suggesting that like the table offered here, it too was made as one of a pair (Keno Auctions, Stamford, Connecticut, 1 May 2010, lot 253).
Unlike John Townsend, Goddard rarely signed or labeled his furniture and this table is one of only ten pieces of furniture that can be firmly ascribed to his shop. These pieces comprise three early slant-front desks--each signed, labeled or bearing evidence of a signature--and seven pieces in the following bills of sale: 1755, a slab-table to Anthony Low; 1760, a scalloped tea table, two roundabout chairs and the drop-leaf table offered here, to John Brown; 1763, a tea table to Jabez Bowen; 1774, a fly tea table to James Atkinson (Coes, pp. 129-130, 132, fn. 2; for the desks, see Christie's, New York, Property from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Nusrala, 21 January 2006, lot 680; for the Low table, see Christie's, New York, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph K. Ott, 20 January 2012, lot 139; for the Bowen tea table, see Nancy E. Richards and Nancy Goyne Evans, New England Furniture at Winterthur: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods (Delaware, 1997), pp. 238-240, cat. 123; for the Atkinson table, see Sotheby's, New York, 20-21, 23 January 2005, lot 1201).
Along with his three brothers, Nicholas (1729-1791), Joseph (1733-1785) and Moses (1738-1836), John Brown was one of the leading merchants of late eighteenth-century America. Through their family's vast shipping empire and investments in local enterprises, the Brown brothers obtained enormous wealth and in 1795, John was described by a visitor as "the richest merchant in Providence." They were prominent figures in Rhode Island's civic and political life and John served as treasurer of the College of Rhode Island (later Brown University), was elected to Congress and funded key projects supporting the State's infrastructure (Cooper, pp. 329, 331). As indicated by Goddard's 1760 bill, John had already amassed substantial means at the age of twenty-four. The same year, he built a 40 by 36 brick house on Water Street (now South Main Street), and the table offered here and the other items from the same bill undoubtedly were made to furnish this home. John and his family lived on Water Street until 1788, when they moved to the newly completed mansion on Power Street, now run by the Rhode Island Historical Society as The John Brown House (Cooper, p. 331).
This table, along with the vast majority of surviving furnishings first owned by John Brown, was inherited by John Brown's daughter, Sarah 'Sally' (1773-1846) (fig. 4), who in 1801 married German-born Charles Frederick Herreshoff (1763-1819). A talented musician with interests in mathematics and astronomy, Sarah may have received the table after her mother's death in 1825 or it may have been among the furnishings of Point Pleasant Farm, a property on Poppasquash Neck in Bristol that John Brown purchased in 1781 and gave to his daughter as a wedding present. Sarah (Brown) Herreshoff lived on the farm until her death in 1846 and it continued to be occupied by her descendants until 1917 (Richard V. Simpson, "Point Pleasant Farm," Historic Bristol: Tales From an Old Rhode Island Seaport (2008), pp. 31-33). This table as well as the other three items from the 1760 bill appear to have descended together to her son, Charles Frederick Herreshoff III (1809-1888) until divided among his children, with this table passing to his daughter Caroline Louisa (1837-1924), widow of Lieutenant Ebenezer Stanton Chesebrough (1841-1875). She outlived her only child and this table passed to her grandson, Westcote Herreshoff Chesebrough (1908-1979), who was living with her on Hope Street in Bristol in 1920 (Thomas Williams Bicknell, The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, vol. 4 (New York, 1920), p. 327; 1920 US Federal Census). The latter inherited a large number of furnishings from John Brown, his great-great-great grandfather, and placed them in storage in Providence in 1929. Forty-five years later, these items were sold at auction in Newport, where the table offered here was purchased by Israel Sack, Inc. for $20,000 ("Auction Worth $150,000," Newport Mercury, 19 July 1974, p. 3).