A CHIPPENDALE CARVED WALNUT SLANT-FRONT DESK
A CHIPPENDALE CARVED WALNUT SLANT-FRONT DESK
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PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF RALPH E. CARPENTER, JR.
A CHIPPENDALE CARVED WALNUT SLANT-FRONT DESK

ATTRIBUTED TO JOB TOWNSEND, SR. (1699-1765), NEWPORT, 1745-1760

Details
A CHIPPENDALE CARVED WALNUT SLANT-FRONT DESK
ATTRIBUTED TO JOB TOWNSEND, SR. (1699-1765), NEWPORT, 1745-1760
43 in. high, 42 in. wide, 24 ¾ in. deep
Provenance
Purchased from John S. Walton, New York
Literature
Laura Beach, "The Past Is Present in Newport: A Couple's Lifelong Love of Antiques," Antiques and Fine Art (Summer 2005) p. 125.
The Rhode Island Furniture Archive at the Yale University Art Gallery, RIF1470.

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Sallie Glover
Sallie Glover

Lot Essay


The attribution to Job Townsend, Sr. is based upon distinctive construction details known to have been used by the master cabinetmaker. These include the presence of a quarter-round molding following the shaping of the blocked interior on top of the well compartment, a numbering system on the small drawers consisting of corresponding gouged marks on the inside of the fronts and backs, and a diagonal incision on the tops of the joints of the drawer sides and backs giving the appearance of a mitered joint. All these features are seen on a desk-and-bookcase labeled by Job Townsend, Sr. now in the collections of the Rhode Island School of Design (see Patricia E. Kane et al., Art & Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650-1830 (New Haven, 2016), pp. 201-204, cat. 29).

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