Advanced Search
Advanced Search
View: 3/4 left profile

Bureau dressing table

Edmund Townsend (American, 1736–1811)
1765–85
Object Place: Newport, Rhode Island

Medium/Technique Mahogany, red cedar, yellow-poplar, chestnut, pine
Dimensions 85.41 x 87.63 x 47.94 cm (33 5/8 x 34 1/2 x 18 7/8 in.)
Credit Line The M. and M. Karolik Collection of Eighteenth-Century American Arts
Accession Number41.579
CollectionsAmericas
This impressive table is the only known labeled piece by Edmund Townsend, son of cabinetmaker Job Townsend and cousin of John Townsend. A respected citizen of Newport, Edmund Townsend was an accomplished furniture maker, and this table demonstrates his mastery of the block-and-shell motifs developed by members of the Townsend-Goddard family. More than thirty examples of this form, used primarily by women, are known today, attesting to their popularity at the time.

Catalogue Raisonné Eighteenth-Century American Arts No.38; RIF675
InscriptionsOriginal paper label on upper side of a drawer bottom: "Made by / Edmund Townsend / In / Newport Rhode Island"

In ink on paper label on bottom of top drawer: "E. W. Caveaux"
ProvenancePurchased from W.M. Jacobs; Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Maxim Karolik for the "M. and M. Karolik Collection of 18th century American Arts"