1. This table and its bill of sale were first illustrated in Ralph E. Carpenter, Jr., The Arts and Crafts of Newport, Rhode Island (Newport, R.I.: Preservation Society of Newport County, 1954), p. 107, fig. 79. When the table was sold in 1930 by Newport antiques dealer George E. Vernon, it was accompanied by an affidavit from the last family owner, Louisa F. Atkinson, that stated, “This will certify that the black birch chair and mahogany tea table together with the bill of sale for same signed by John Goddard were purchased from me and have always been the property of my family.” 2. Job Townsend, Jr., Ledger/Daybook, 1750–1793, Newport Historical Society, Newport, Rhode Island, vol. 504, p. 86. Joseph K. Ott, “Recent Discoveries Among Rhode Island Cabinetmakers and Their Work,” Rhode Island History 28, no. 1 (winter 1969): 8, 9. James Taylor Ledger, 1767–1802, Newport Historical Society, Newport, Rhode Island, vol. 498, p. 55. Job Townsend, Jr., Ledger/Daybook, p. 98. 3. Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises or the Doctrine of Handy-Works Applied to the Arts of Smithing, Joinery, Carpentry, Turning, Bricklaying (1703; reprint edition, New York, Washington, London: Praeger Publishers, 1970), p. 209. 4. Job Townsend, Jr., Ledger/Daybook. The fly table transactions discussed can be found on p. 1 (Cozzens); p. 17 (Eliezer); p. 72 (Elliot, Wanton); p. 76 (Fickes); pp. 77–78 (Lawton, Luther); p. 79 (MacCalpin, Brenton); p. 80 (Townsend); p. 87 (Cornell); p. 92 (Brenton); p. 94 (Gardner); p. 95 (Wright); and p. 107 (Rogers). Brenton was charged twice by Townsend, but it is not clear if this was an accounting error or if Brenton purchased two tables. Luther’s table of fustick, or fustic, was probably made from the yellow wood of a common tropical American tree (Chlorophora tinctoria). 5. Benjamin Baker Account Book, 1761–1792, Newport Historical Society, vol. 1904, n.p. The charge was for “1 fly table of mehogni 70s” for the date November 15, 1762. James Taylor Ledger, Newport Historical Society; see page 3 for the charge to Hart of 80s for “a Fly Table Claw Foot” and page 54 for the charge to Myrick of 3s 12d for a “Fly Table Mahog.” Job Danforth Account Book, Carter-Danforth Papers, Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence, Rhode Island, p. 41. William M. Pillsbury, “Earning a Living 1788–1818: Job Danforth, Cabinetmaker,” Rhode Island History 31, nos. 2–3 (1972): 85, 93. The Danforth table has trapezoidal cleats, the block is of oak, and the pillar is clover shaped where it comes through the block. The lock device is large and made of iron. 6. Townsend turned large-scale work, including many sets of bedposts, sets of legs, bannisters, and stair ornaments, and small-scale work, including punch ladle handles (presumably to be fitted to silver bowls) and billiard balls. See Job Townsend, Jr., Ledger/Daybook, p. 90 (bedposts), p. 84 (stair ornaments), pp. 93, 96 (punch ladle handles), p. 112 (billiard balls), pp. 73–75 (sets of table legs). See also James Taylor Ledger. Taylor debited joiner Ebenezer Dunton for turned legs in 1768 (p. 2) and Timothy Waterhouse for turning a set of legs and bedposts in 1774 (p. 16). See also Benjamin Baker Account Book, n.p. Baker turned table legs for joiner Eleazer Trevett in October 1786 and clock case pillars for joiner Walter Nichols in July 1786. See William Barker Account Books, 5 vols., Rhode Island Historical Society. Among the furniture makers that Barker supplied with turned parts were Philip Potter and Samuel Mays, for whom he turned legs, feet, and drops among other things (vol. 1, pp. 10 recto, 13 verso, 14 verso, 17; vol. 2, p. 11 verso, p. 14 recto). See William and Samuel Proud Ledger, Rhode Island Historical Society. Among the accounts of William Proud between 1773 and 1779 are transactions with Joseph Martin for turned sets of bedposts and legs, including legs for a high case of drawers (pp. 1, 8). Proud also made sets of table legs for Daniel Martin (p. 18). Job Townsend, Jr., Ledger/Daybook. See page 73 where Townsend records a pillar made for Gideon Lawton in 1762 (2s) and page 95 where he recorded charges for a pillar for Josias [?] Lydon in 1766 (4s). 7. John Bivins, “A Catalog of Northern Furniture with Southern Provenances,” Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts 15, no. 2 (November 1989): 60–61. This table subsequently was offered for sale (see Antiques 142, no. 1 [July 1992]: 41). See Christie’s, Important American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art and Decorative Arts, New York, January 18, 1997, lot 252, for the table that descended in the family of Captain Joseph Allen. See also Christie’s, Fine American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art and Decorative Arts, October 21, 1989, lot 389; Christie’s, American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art and Decorative Arts, June 25, 1991, lot 197; Christie’s, Important American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art and Decorative Arts, June 21, 1995, lot 220; Christie’s, Important American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art and Decorative Arts, June, 18, 1998, lot 135 and reoffered at Christie’s, Important American Furniture, Folk Art and Decorative Arts, October 8, 1998, lot 52. See also Sotheby’s, Important American Furniture and Related Decorative Arts, January 27 and 29, 1983, lot 304. 8. The similarity of the carved paw feet on some of these tables and the feet on a tea table in the Karolik Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, that has a history of having been made by John Goddard for his daughter Catherine provides the basis for the traditional attribution of this form to John Goddard. Edwin J. Hipkiss, Eighteenth-Century American Arts: The M. and M. Karolik Collection (Cambridge: Harvard University Press for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1950), pp. 110–11. In a note, Hipkiss cites Duncan A. Hazard who stated in 1929, “The table was made by John Goddard and presented to his daughter Catherine who married Perry Weaver. . . . I purchased it of the estate of Miss Susan J. Weaver” (Goddard’s great, great-granddaughter). On the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA) table (fig. 5), the cleats extend beyond the incised line cut in the underside of the top. The tips of the cleats have a quarter-round profile; the outermost steps are quarter-rounds; the innermost steps, at the block, are serpentine curves. On the table illustrated in Christie’s, Important American Furniture, October 8, 1998, lot 52, the cleats also extend beyond the incised line cut in the underside of the top. The tips of the cleats have a serpentine profile; the outermost steps are quarter-rounds, and the innermost steps, at the block, are serpentine curves. On the Rhode Island Historical Society (RIHS) table (fig. 4), the cleats are set in about an inch from the incised line on the underside of the edge of the top. The tips of the cleats are rounded; an elongated serpentine curve extends from the tips to the higher section of the cleats at the block. On a table in a private collection (fig. 6) the tips of the cleats are set in about an inch from the incised line on the underside of the edge of the top. The tips of the cleats have a serpentine profile; the steps near the block have a serpentine profile (Philip and Ann Holzer Collection [privately printed, 1990], cat. no. 8A.) On the table in the private collection (fig. 7) the cleats extend beyond the incised line cut in the underside of the top. The tips of the cleats and the steps near the block have a serpentine profile. On all these tables the block at the top of the pillar is deeper than the cleats. The table in figure 5 and the table in a private collection (fig. 7) have a one-piece iron brace nailed and screwed to the joint of the legs and pillar. The table in Christie’s, Important American Furniture, October 8, 1998, lot 52, and the table in figure 4 each have a three-part iron brace. The brace on the table in figure 4 is nailed, and the legs are not gouged. The table in figure 6 has no brace. Furthermore, the shoulders on the legs on either side of the dovetails on the table in figure 5 and the table in figure 6 are curved to conform to the circumference of the pillar. On the table in figure 4 and the table in a private collection (fig. 7) the shoulders are at right angles to the dovetails, and the sides of the pillar have been flattened to conform to the shoulders. Stand and table tops frequently were attached to a lathe in order to shape the molded edge, remove excess wood between the edges, and incise the underside of the top near the edge. Joseph Moxon’s Mechanick Exercises (p. 189) describes broad flat mandrels with three or more iron pins that are attached to the backside of flat boards that are to be turned. Only the Job Danforth table (fig. 3) has a series of holes near the centerpoint on the backside of the top, suggesting that he may have used such an attachment tool. Another lathe attachment a turner could use to work flat boards was an arbor and iron cross. See Charles Hummel, With Hammer in Hand: The Dominy Craftsmen of East Hampton, New York (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia for the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1968), pp. 90–91. Hummel states that the arbor and cross is the most important lathe attachment to survive from the Dominy shop because no eighteenth- or nineteenth-century English or French sources illustrate this equipment. He concludes that either it was so commonly known to turners that it was overlooked in the manuals or that it was an American solution to the problem of turning table tops. The iron cross had holes in it through which the turner could secure his slab of wood. The supposition used in this study is that the predetermined size of the cross and spacing of the holes in it should allow one to determine if a table top was fabricated using the same attachment. The tops of the five tables examined (figs. 4–7 and Christie’s, Important American Furniture, October 8, 1998, lot 52) exhibit no similar patterns. The table in figure 5 has approximately fourteen holes going around almost the entire circumference about four inches in from the edge. They are from 11" to 12 11/16" from the centerpoint. The Christie’s table has four pairs of holes about four to six inches apart. The table in figure 4 has five holes; four are outside the cleats from 11 1/2" to 11 7/8" from the centerpoint; a fifth is between the cleats below the block when the table is tilted up, making its distance from the centerpoint impossible to determine. The table in figure 6 has four holes; two are close to one another and are 10 11/16" and 10 13/16" from the centerpoint; two are far apart and are 10 15/16" and 11 3/8" from the centerpoint. The table in figure 7 has nine holes from 10 7/8" to 11 1/8" from the centerpoint. 9. Antoinette F. Downing and Vincent J. Scully, Jr., The Architectural Heritage of Newport, Rhode Island, 1640–1915, 2d rev. ed. (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1967). In chapter five, Downing discusses Harrison’s career and draws upon the previous research presented in Fiske Kimball, “Colonial Amateurs and Their Models: Peter Harrison,” Architecture 53, no. 6 (June 1926): 155–60; Architecture 54, no. 1 (July 1926): 185–90, 209; and Carl Bridenbaugh, Peter Harrison, First American Architect (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1949). 10. Although it is unusual, this tea table can be identified as a Newport product on the basis of the paw feet, the shallow indentations on the sides of the legs, the stepped cleats, and the stationary maple block. The construction of the pedestal sets this table apart from standard Newport products. The pillar rests upon a separate round element into which the legs are dovetailed. Downing and Scully, Architectural Heritage of Newport, pp. 85, 58–59. 11. The table illustrated in figure 12 is the only one in the study that has a birdcage at the top of the pillar. The cleats on that table and the one shown in figure 13 are trapezoidal, which is also atypical for Newport. The cleats on the table shown in figure 1 are stepped with serpentine curves at the tips and quarter-round profiles at the block. Unlike the tables with Doric columns, the block is not deeper than the cleats. 12. For a discussion of pendant carving attributed to John Goddard, see Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport, The Townsends and Goddards (Tenafly, N.J.: MMI Americana Press, 1984), pp. 210–11. 13. Estate inventory of Matthew Cozzens, 1779, William Ellery Collection, Rhode Island Historical Society, series 2, folder 10. The older furniture, the “old Desk” and six “old Chairs,” were in the other sitting room.