John Townsend (1733–1809), born in Newport, Rhode Island, on February 17, 1733, was the first son of Christopher Townsend (1701–1787) and his wife, Patience Easton (1703–1789), and is accepted by many as one of America’s greatest cabinetmakers. John Townsend’s work has been studied at length by many scholars. Among the most comprehensive publications was Morrison H. Heckscher’s John Townsend: Newport Cabinetmaker (2005). The exhibition that accompanied that book assembled for the first time nearly all of the known works by Townsend. Therefore, it was with great surprise that in March 2011 an unknown signed and dated John Townsend high chest was discovered (fig. 1). Researching the high chest initiated a string of discoveries not only about John Townsend but also about his apprenticeship with his father.[1]
Christopher Townsend, the son of Solomon and Catherine Townsend, was born in Oyster Bay, Long Island, and arrived in Newport with his family in 1707. Between 1715 and 1722 Christopher trained as a joiner and cabinetmaker with an unknown Newport master. In December 1723 he married and settled on Easton’s Point, where his wife’s family had significant landholdings and ties in the furniture, shipbuilding, and house building trades. In 1725 Christopher purchased lot 51 in Newport for his house and shop, which still stand today at 74 Bridge Street.[2]
Christopher began his career during the 1720s working as a house carpenter or housewright. He described himself as a “joiner” or “shop joiner” and likely built his own house and shop (the latter measuring 12 by 20 feet), which was located down the street from the house of his older brother, Job Townsend (1699–1765). In 1729 he became a freeman and received commissions for a number of public and private buildings in Newport, including the Colony House (1739–1749) and perhaps Trinity Church (1725–1735), as well as the Seventh Day Baptist Meeting House (1725–1730). He may have established his cabinet shop by 1732, when he purchased hardware, nails, and other materials. Two years later, a local merchant sold him a large quantity of hardware for case furniture, including desks.
Christopher’s shop supplied furniture to several important local merchants, including Abraham Redwood and Isaac Stelle. The workshop was spacious enough for five or six workbenches, which were manned by his sons, John and Jonathan (1745–1773), whom Christopher trained, as well as other apprentices and journeymen. Christopher’s working career spanned nearly sixty years, during which time he amassed an estate larger than those of anyone else in his extended family, owing in part to his wife’s assets.[3]
John Townsend’s life paralleled his father’s in many ways over his nearly fifty-year career. John probably began his apprenticeship in 1747 and completed his term during the mid-1750s. He described himself as a “joiner” in a contract with the house carpenters Henry Peckham and Wing Spooner in 1754, but at that time he may still have been working in Christopher’s shop.[4]
The high chest illustrated in figure 1 is the earliest example of that form documented to John Townsend. It does not have his archetypal front legs with flat incised carving; sharp, angular, anisodactyl claw feet; rear legs with pad feet; or conventional concave shell (fig. 2). Rather, this chest has four delicate unadorned legs, each supported with open-talon claw-and-ball feet, and an obverse convex shell, oriented with the lobes extending down. If not for its prominent signature, this object might never have been ascribed to John Townsend. Dated 1756, the chest may have been the first major commission he received. The original owners, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver Arnold (1725–1789) and his wife Mary (1725–1762), were married in that year, and their choice of John Townsend to make the chest attests to the latter’s elevated status within Newport’s cabinetmaking community at the young age of twenty-three.[5]
The importance that Townsend placed on the Arnold chest is evident from the profuse graphite inscriptions he placed on it. “Made By John Townsend / Newport 1756” (fig. 3) is written on the inside of the top drawer of the lower case, “John Townsend” is penciled on the upper-case drawer divider, and the letter “M”—matching that in the word “Made” and used as a finishing mark—is written on different components at least five times (fig. 4). Large calligraphic finishing marks are characteristic of Townsend’s work and consistently appear on other examples of his furniture. On the Arnold chest, he used the letters “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” “E,” and “F” to differentiate the drawers of the upper case. The drawers of the lower case are also inscribed: “A” on the back of the upper drawer, “B” on the back of the center drawer below, and “A” and “B” on the backs and sides of the flanking drawers. In addition, letters occur on several drawer dividers and drawer sides (figs. 5, 6).[6]
Townsend wrote the name “Polly” and “£14 Wigg” on the bottoms of two drawers of the upper case (figs. 7, 8). The first inscription is likely a reference to Mrs. Arnold, since “Polly” was a common nickname for Mary in the eighteenth century. The second inscription corresponds to the price of a wig in Newport in the 1750s, when it was common practice to spell the word with two g’s. Writing of a somewhat personal nature is also present on the chest but is otherwise unknown in John Townsend’s work. The upper left drawer of the upper case is inscribed “W Richardson / J Robinson / E Wanton / J Townsend / To Ride out next Wednesday” (fig. 9). This writing refers to William Richardson, Joseph Robinson, Edward Wanton, and John Townsend and probably to the day the chest was to be delivered. All four men were from elite Quaker families, who lived near one another on Easton’s Point in Newport and were variously connected through business and marriages.[7]
William Richardson (1736–1769) was the son of Thomas Richardson (1680–1761), a Newport merchant, general treasurer of Rhode Island (1748–1761), and presiding clerk of the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends (1729–1760), and his wife, Mary Wanton (1700–1777), who married in 1729. Mary Wanton’s brother Gideon (1693–1767) served as governor in 1745 and 1747. William Richardson and Joseph Robinson were partners in Thomas Robinson & Co., one of the leading mercantile businesses in Newport. Richardson was Thomas Robinson’s (1731–1817) brother-in-law and was undoubtedly related to Joseph. On November 5, 1761, all three men represented their firm in an agreement to manufacture spermaceti candles with Obadiah Brown & Co., Richard Cranch & Co., Naph Hart & Co., Isaac Stelle & Co., Aaron Lopez & Co, Collins & Rivera, and Edward Langdon & Son. Captain Edward Wanton (1734–1773) was the son of Governor Gideon Wanton (1693–1767) and Mary Cadman (d. 1780) and a cousin of William Richardson. Born on April 12, 1734, Edward was described as a merchant in several Newport court cases. His brother Gideon Jr. (b. 1724) married John Townsend’s sister Mary (1735–1783).[8]
The upper left drawer of the Arnold chest bears the inscription “Woman Is By / Nature False & Inconstan(t) / W[ ]fill / W. Richardson” (fig. 10), a playful commentary on marriage that reinforces the theory that the chest was made around the time of Oliver and Mary Arnold’s wedding. The first part of the inscription was inspired by a quote in The Orphan; or, the Unhappy Marriage, a play written by Thomas Otway (1652–1685) in England in 1680. A story of unrequited love, the play was one of the most influential domestic tragedies of the seventeenth century, and it remained popular in English and American theaters well into the nineteenth century. The larger quote that inspired Townsend’s quip was excerpted from the play and published widely. It appeared in an essay on marriage written by Joseph Addison (1672–1719) for the Spectator in 1711. Reissued in eight volumes in 1747, the Spectator was available for circulation at the Redwood Library, which was founded in Newport in that year. The Townsends, Wantons, Robinsons, and Richardsons were among the library’s first members.[9]
The Arnold high chest is the earliest dated Rhode Island example with an ogee head. Although the pediment has fully developed features that became standard in Newport work from 1760 to 1780—an enclosed ogee pediment with two moderately sized oculi and two applied tympanum panels—it was made just when the flat-top form that had been popular for the previous fifty years was passing out of fashion for all but the least expensive chests. The absence of quarter columns on the upper case and carving on the knees and presence of four pierced claw-and-ball feet and a downward oriented convex shell provide further evidence that the Arnold chest represents a transitional phase in Newport high chest design.
The Arnold chest is also unusual in having four claw-and-ball feet (most later Newport examples have turned pad feet at the rear) and is the earliest dated example with pierced talons (fig. 11). Although not verified through microscopy, the balls have a dark finish that may have been intended to simulate ebony and contrast with the lighter, more transparent finish of the anisodactyl claws. The claws have rounded knuckles and are thinner and less angular than those on later feet from Townsend’s shop. Characteristic of all the claw-and-ball feet on his furniture, the hallux or rear talon has no knuckle. This sets his work apart from feet on furniture documented and attributed to John Goddard, which have a well-defined, rounded knuckle on the rear talon.[10]
Of all the features of the Arnold chest, the shell is perhaps the most distinctive (fig. 12). Unlike most of the shells on later Newport high chests and dressing tables, which are somewhat semicircular in shape and oriented with the lobes facing up, the shell on the Arnold chest is fan-shaped and oriented in the opposite direction. The carver of the Arnold chest began by transferring the design of the shell to a 1/2-inch-thick mahogany board, cutting the rough outline with a bow saw, and partially carving the outermost convex lobes. After gluing the board to the skirt, he completed the carving with gouges (used right side up to cut the flutes and upside down to model the convex surfaces), a parting tool (used to establish the fillets between the convex and concave lobes), and abrasive (used to remove tool marks from the convex lobes). The glue line is visible where the carver cut through the laminate into the skirt below (fig. 13). Only two other pieces are known with this type of shell: a pier table with ball-and-claw feet and a high chest (figs. 14, 16).
This unique shell design may have influenced cabinetmakers working in and around nearby Stonington, Connecticut. Several objects from this region, including a high chest of drawers with a history of descent in the Smith and Hyde families and a dressing table, have skirts with integral “drops” having the same basic outline as this early Newport shell (figs. 1, 12, 15). Decorative arts scholars Minor Myers Jr. and Edgar Mayhew attributed the Smith high chest to a member of that family and suggested as a candidate Jonathan Smith, who was working in Stonington during the second half of the eighteenth century.[11]
Although Rhode Island designs were undoubtedly transmitted to other coastal New England towns, the most diagnostic construction techniques employed by John Townsend and his Newport contemporaries were rarely imitated. As exemplified by the work on the Arnold chest, Townsend’s drawer dovetails are fine and evenly spaced, and the top of each drawer side is finished with a shallow torus molding. Each of the three short drawers of the upper case is secured with a wooden spring lock (often referred to as a “Quaker” lock) rather than a conventional metal lock. Otherwise, Townsend would have had to place the escutcheon plate too high on the drawer face and disturb the chest’s proportions. The mahogany he chose was very dense and highly figured, ranging from a striped pattern on the drawer fronts to a curled pattern for the cornice moldings and shell laminate. Most of the secondary wood in the chest is clear white pine, including the vertical glue blocks used to secure the legs to the inner corners of the lower case frame, which reinforce the area where the partitions between the lower drawers join the skirt and stop the drawers. As is the case with other furniture documented and attributed to John Townsend, the Arnold chest has a small amount of mahogany secondary wood. The glue blocks securing the front legs to the skirt are made of that wood and chamfered to remain hidden from view. Collectively, these construction and design characteristics are hallmarks of Townsend’s work and crucial in identifying other early pieces.
The high chest illustrated in figure 16 was probably made circa 1755. Notations on a piece of parchment glued to a drawer side state that the chest was originally owned by Governor Gideon Wanton and bought at auction following his death by Perry Weaver, John Goddard’s son-in-law. The chest descended in the Freeborn branch of the Weaver family until its acquisition by the current owners. Although significantly larger than the Arnold high chest, the Wanton example is similar in having plain knees, claw-and-ball feet at the front and back, and a downward-oriented convex shell. It also has the same drawer lettering system and related “M” finishing marks on the backboard.[12]
The carving on the Wanton chest differs from that on the Arnold example. The feet have compressed balls, larger toes with subtly modeled knuckles, and talons that are not pierced (fig. 17). Although conventional in design, the feet of the Wanton chest are superior in execution to those on much Newport furniture. The shell on the Wanton chest is less complex than that on the Arnold example (fig. 18), but it is glued up in the same manner. On both shells, the carver cut through the laminate into the skirt below.
The Arnold and Wanton high chests share several construction features: the backboards of the heads are cut to mirror the oculi and plinths of the tympana (figs. 19, 20); the cyma-shaped cornice moldings are attached with interior screws; mahogany glue blocks are used to secure the front legs to the skirt (figs. 21, 22); and the glue blocks reinforcing the joint between the vertical dividers of the lower drawers terminate in chamfered points (figs. 23, 24). Variations in the construction of these pieces are largely a factor of design. The pediment of the Wanton high chest has a mahogany board behind the oculi and moldings around them (fig. 16). The board is dadoed and wedged into the cornice returns and front-to-rear framing boards below (fig. 25). The plinth of the tympanum originally had a base molding, but the latter is missing. Ogee heads that are fully enclosed at the front are relatively common on Newport case pieces, but the unusual attachment of the board behind the oculi of the Wanton chest suggests that it was an early attempt to achieve that design.[13]
The design and construction of these chests suggest that they were made in the same shop. This relationship becomes even more apparent when the marks on the objects are compared under infrared light. The Wanton high chest has letter designations, but it is inscribed with an “M” finishing mark seven times. The “M” marks are by two different hands; one begins with a distinctive triple loop (fig. 26) and is nearly identical to the “M” marks on the Arnold high chest (fig. 4), while the other lacks the loops and has a concentric spiral (fig. 27). The letter “B” on the Wanton chest also differs from that on the Arnold example (figs. 28, 29). Inscriptions on a desk-and-bookcase signed by Christopher Townsend and made for the Reverend Nathaniel Appleton (1693–1784) and his wife, Margaret (Gibbs) (1699–1771), of Cambridge, Massachusetts, offer an explanation for the similarities and differences observed in the marks on the Wanton and Appleton high chests (fig. 30). The “M” finishing marks on the backboards of the desk-and-bookcase and the Wanton high chest are nearly identical (figs. 27, 31). Moreover, the calligraphic “B” on the Wanton high chest is identical to the “B” in the inscription “Made By Christopher Townsend” (figs. 28, 32). Therefore, one may surmise that Christopher Townsend and his son John collaborated in the production of the Wanton high chest.
The Appleton desk-and-bookcase has “plum-pudding” mahogany primary wood and solid silver hardware made by Newport silversmith Samuel Casey (1723–ca. 1773). It retains its original urn-and-flame finials, which are similar to the one John Townsend made for the Arnold high chest (figs. 33, 34). Imported British case furniture or architectural design books may have influenced Christopher’s or his client’s choice of an arched pediment, since only one other Newport case piece with that type of head is known. The desk-and-bookcase is also unusual in having fallboard supports faced with silver birds with inlaid agate eyes (fig. 35). Christopher Townsend appears to have favored this motif, since he used birds with a similar profile on the staircase frieze in his house on Bridge Street in Newport. Another distinctive feature of the Appleton desk-and-bookcase may have been lost. The writing height of the fallboard is relatively low, which suggests that the feet are not full height. Inside each bracket are two mahogany glue blocks that abut to form a square hole (fig. 36). If the Appleton desk-and-bookcase followed the design of elevated English baroque examples, a compressed ball foot with a square tenon may have fit into the holes (fig. 37).[14]
A recently discovered slant-front desk with a history of descent in the Simon Pease family of Newport shares details with the Appleton desk-and-bookcase; the brasses are aligned vertically, the interior design and foot construction are similar, and the shells on the small drawers are virtually identical (figs. 38-40). The bottom board of the desk is signed “Made by C T,” and the backsides of the exterior drawers are inscribed with a chalk finishing mark (figs. 41, 42). The three large drawers are also marked sequentially in graphite, “B,” “C,” and “D” (fig. 43).[15]
A related slant-front desk with brass lopers identical in shape and size to those on the Appleton desk-and-bookcase has graphite letters inscribed on the back of the exterior drawers in Christopher Townsend’s hand (figs. 44-46). The other notable differences include a more detailed prospect door shell and intricate sliding wooden locks securing the uppermost exterior drawer. The current feet are replacements and may possibly have originally been of the two-part form found on the desks in figures 30 and 38. On one interior drawer is a graphite mark (fig. 46). A similar mark was found on a drawer of the Wanton high chest.[16]
Another slant-front desk possibly made for the export market has details suggesting that it originated in Christopher Townsend’s shop (fig. 47). Made of cedar, this object has an “M” finishing mark similar to those on other pieces documented and attributed to him as well as drawer backs with Christopher’s script lettering system. Moreover, the precisely rendered dovetails, rounded edges of the drawer sides, and chamfered top edges of the drawer backs are consistent with his work. Christopher Townsend is documented as having made several cedar desks for export over the course of his career, including “2 Cedar Desks, and Casing” in 1748. John Banister paid him £83. 12. 6. for those pieces, which were shipped on the sloop Little Polly bound for Jamaica. In 1764 Captain Peleg Bunker purchased a red cedar desk from Townsend and agreed to make payment after returning from the West Indies.[17]
The high chest of drawers illustrated in figure 48 represents another collaborative effort between Christopher and John Townsend; it is inscribed in graphite on the lower-case drawer blade “John T” and “Christopher Townsend” (figs. 48, 49). The chest has a history of descent in the Smith family of Philadelphia, but an original brass lock escutcheon engraved in period script “Thos. Robinson” suggests that the original owners were Thomas (1731–1817) and Sarah (Richardson) Robinson, who married in Newport in 1752. The shaped pediment backboard, glue blocks, molding profiles, upper drawer Quaker locks, cabriole legs, and feet are very similar to those on the Arnold high chest (figs. 11, 50). The graphite lettering of the drawers and “M” finishing marks on the back of the upper and lower cases of those objects are also identical. Were it not for the concave shell (fig. 51) and inscription, this high chest would almost certainly be ascribed to John Townsend alone. The chest is unique in having bonnet dust boards made of mahogany. These boards may represent the use of leftover wood, rather than a material option, since a section of scrap molding was used as a brace on the interior of the pediment (fig. 52).[18]
Made the same year as the Arnold high chest is a dining table inscribed “John Townsend 1756/3,” “ John Towns[en]d” and “John” (figs. 53, 54). The table’s tall cabriole legs terminate in claw-and-ball feet that are identical to those on the Arnold chest (figs. 11, 55). As he did on that high chest, Townsend inscribed the table with the owner’s name—“For Israel / A” (fig. 56). A similar undated table may be an antecedent for the signed example (fig. 57). Likely made in the shop of Christopher Townsend, it has his characteristic feet, which are similar to John’s but distinguished by having thicker toes and much shorter talons.[19]
Rectangular tea tables with angular cabriole legs, slipper feet, ovolo rail moldings, and tray tops rabbeted on the underside to fit inside the frame are generic Newport forms that were likely made by members of both the Townsend and Goddard families. The example illustrated in figure 58 is unusual in being signed in chalk on the underside of the top: “C Townsend joynd the piece” (fig. 59). Given the similarities in their construction of case furniture, it is not surprising that John Townsend’s version of this slipper-foot form is virtually identical to Christopher’s.[20]
John Townsend also offered claw-and-ball feet as an option on this standardized tea table form. With a history of descent in the Sweet or Abbott family of Rhode Island, the example illustrated in figure 60 has feet that are identical to those on the Arnold chest. Other than having the underside of the top notched in the corners, its construction is the same as that of other Newport tea tables including the one signed by his father (fig. 59).[21]
Christopher Townsend’s earliest known work is a flat-top high chest of drawers that is signed and dated in graphite on the bottom board of the upper case, “Christopher Townsend made 1748” (figs. 61, 62). According to a paper label on the chest, the original owner was Newport ship captain William Van Deursen, who, during the Revolution, lived in Middletown, Connecticut, where he commanded the privateer brig Middletown. With its dovetailed lower case, legs secured with glue blocks inside the frame, and cyma-shaped skirt, the Van Deursen chest shows that Newport case design and construction became standardized very early, which gave the city’s cabinetmakers an advantage in the coastal furniture trade.[22]
A very similar high chest can be attributed to Christopher Townsend based on its graphite inscriptions (fig. 63). The original owner was George Hussey (d. 1782) of Nantucket, Massachusetts. At his death the chest passed to Clothier Pierce Sr., a merchant in Newport, and next through the Potter family of Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Though not signed, the high chest has Christopher Townsend’s large calligraphic finishing mark “M” in graphite on the interior bottom of the lowest long drawer of the upper case, as well as his signature lettering system (fig. 64). Its drawer arrangement differs slightly from the signed example but is the same as that of the Arnold and Robinson high chests. As with the Wanton high chest, the sides of the lower case are rabbeted to receive the squares of the legs (figs. 1, 48).[23]
A high chest of drawers with china shelves backed by an elaborately scalloped board is the most architecturally elaborate example of the Newport flat-top form (fig. 65). Originally owned by Rhode Island Governor Samuel Ward (1725–1776), the chest can be attributed to Christopher Townsend’s shop based on structural and stylistic affinities with the Van Deursen and Hussey high chests. The distinctive claw-and-ball feet, with thicker elongated phalanxes and flattened balls, relate closely to those of the Wanton high chest (figs. 17, 66). The balls also appear to be ebonized like those of the Arnold and Ward high chest (figs. 11, 66) and of a heavily altered table that descended in the Schuyler and Van Rensselaer families of New York (figs. 67, 68). The original owner of the table may have been Philip Schuyler, who married Catherine Van Rensselaer in 1755.[24]
In the Townsend shop tradition, claw-and-ball feet with pierced talons occur on furniture documented and attributed to both Christopher and John. In some instances, their work is relatively easy to separate. The feet on a tea table that reputedly descended in the Weeden family of Jamestown, Rhode Island, are related to those on the Wanton chest in that the second phalanges of the side toes are more elongated than that of the center toe (figs. 69, 70, 17). This design and carving feature is more closely associated with Christopher than with John. In contrast, the feet on a marble-top tea table from the Rodman family of Rhode Island could be ascribed to either maker (figs. 71, 72).[25]
A dressing table with a history in the Chase family of Rhode Island has legs and feet that are closely related to those of the Rodman table (figs. 73, 74). The elongated second phalanges on the side toes and the shorter pierced talons of the feet follow the design associated with Christopher Townsend, and the graphite letters on the backs of the drawers and spiral finishing marks also appear to be in his hand. The balls also appear to be ebonized like those on the Arnold and Ward high chests and altered Van Rensselaer table (figs. 11, 66, 68, 74). As is typical of early high chests and dressing tables associated with Christopher and John Townsend, the front legs of the Chase table are secured with contoured mahogany glue blocks, and the rear legs with rectangular white pine glue blocks, the latter notched to act as drawer stops. The glue blocks on the inside of the skirt are shaped in the same manner as those of the Arnold and Wanton high chests (figs. 21–24). Other early features can be observed in the design and execution of the carved shell, most notably the way it is contained within an arch and its open center (fig. 75). The Robinson high chest has a related shell, but the center is not cut out (fig. 51).[26]
Several early Newport case pieces have shells with a hollowed lobe extending up between opposing scroll volutes, a motif some Newport furniture scholars have interpreted as a stylized fleur-de-lis. A high chest of drawers with this detail is inscribed on the top long drawer of the upper case, “No. 28 / Made By / John Townsend / Newport / 1759” (figs. 76, 77). The piece has “signature” attributes of John’s shop, including his florid lettering system on the backs of the drawers. Like other objects documented and attributed to him, it is well made and highly finished. The inner edge of the skirt shell is chamfered, the drawer sides have a torus molding at the top, glue blocks are contoured where required, and wooden spring locks secure the small upper drawers. Although made only three years after the Arnold chest, the Brixey example is designed quite differently. On the latter, tympanum panels are smaller, the oculi are larger, two equal-size drawers are in the upper row, the knees are carved, the rear legs end in pad feet, and the feet are pierced above the ball (figs. 78, 79). Indeed, the Brixey chest is the earliest documented example from Townsend’s shop with those features.[27]
The most atypical object associated with John Townsend earliest period is a document cabinet with three shells, each with his characteristic fleur-de-lis (fig. 80). Inscribed in graphite “John Townsend/Newport” on the right side of the lower left drawer, the cabinet is one of the earliest block-and-shell case pieces made by him (fig. 81). The shelves and dividers in the interior have scalloped edges similar to those in the Appleton desk-and-bookcase, and the door shell, confined within an arch, continues a design likely introduced by Christopher Townsend (figs. 30, 82). The shells are taller than those on John Townsend’s later block-and-shell pieces. One of the most unusual aspects of the cabinet’s design is its compressed ball feet. Both their use and the possible incorporation of ball feet on the Appleton desk-and-bookcase and desk illustrated in figure 30 attest to the continued influence of baroque design on John Townsend’s early work.[28]
A chest of drawers with a history in the Milnor family of Woodstock, Connecticut, can be attributed to John Townsend based on its carved shells and graphite inscriptions (fig. 83). Aside from being larger, the shells are almost identical to those on the document cabinet. On both objects, the applied convex shells were made in two pieces, a lobed section and a blocking section below (fig. 84). The back of each drawer is inscribed with graphite letters in John Townsend’s distinctive hand, and the top drawer has his characteristic “M” finishing mark. As is the case with several other examples of his work, the chest also bears the owner’s name, “Moses,” written in graphite (fig. 85).[29]
The desk illustrated in figure 86 is the only slant-front example having a shell with the stylized fleur-de-lis motif. It retains a partially legible graphite signature, “J [ ] Newport,” on the bottom board and has the name “James Harden”—likely an owner or journeyman—inscribed in Townsend’s hand (figs. 87, 88). Its interior is similar to the Appleton desk-and-bookcase, but its more elaborate pigeonhole dividers are finished with scalloped sides similar to those found on the interior dividers of the document cabinet.[30]
A high chest that descended in the Potter family of Kingston, Rhode Island, and a card table that came down in the family of Stephen Hopkins are from John Townsend’s early period, but their knee and foot carving differs from that on other examples examined in this study (figs. 89, 90). The toes of their front feet have an extra knuckle, the piercing above the ball is larger, and the tendons are significantly more defined (fig. 91). John Townsend used his standard lettering system on the drawers and drawer dividers of the chest, and his characteristic “M” finishing mark occurs in five places.[31]
Evidence suggests that John Townsend’s brother Jonathan also trained in Christopher’s shop, but the only documented piece by the younger man is a bureau table with a history of descent in the Pell family of Newport and New York (fig. 92). The piece had his florid signature and other writing in graphite on the underside of the top drawer (fig. 93). As this bureau suggests, it is very likely that some of the furniture historically attributed to John Townsend was made by Jonathan instead.[32]
Made when he was thirty years old and signed in graphite “John Townsend / Newport / 1762,” the card table illustrated in figure 94 is the latest piece of furniture with a graphite signature by Townsend (fig. 95). It marks a turning point in his career, from the baroque objects with delicate claw-and-ball feet that characterize his earlier output to the more aggressive legs and feet with taller balls and longer talons that typify his later work (fig. 96). The distinct knee carving is in his mature style, with tendrils on the knee brackets that nearly reach the knee and the lower section fanning out across the width of the leg.[33]
As one would expect, John Townsend’s earliest furniture reflects his training in Christopher’s shop. What is more surprising is the level of elite patronage John received at such an early age. Christopher had established strong ties with wealthy Newport residents long before John received his first order, and those relationships certainly benefited John as he ventured out on his own. John did, however, begin to develop his own style as his confidence grew and he gained exposure to new foreign design sources.[34]
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For their assistance with this article, the authors wish to thank David Bayne, Luke Beckerdite, Charles Burns, Dennis Carr, Sarah Anne Carter, Tara Cederholm, Maria Saffiotti Dale, Mr. and Mrs. Prescott Dunbar, Remi Dyll, Virginia Hart, Morrison Heckscher, Heidi Hill, Andrew Holter, Patricia Kane, Peter Kenny, Leigh Keno, Leslie Keno, Mrs. Angela Kilroy, Alexandra Kirtley, Caren Kraska, Mrs. Phyllis Kurfirst, Deanne Levison, Ann Smart Martin, Whitney Pape, Todd Prickett, Jonathan Prown, Robert Trent, Lynn Turner, Nick Vincent, Susan Walker, Gerald Ward, Ann Woolsey, and the institutions and collectors who allowed us to study and photograph their objects.
