.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Bearing inlaid decoration and construction features identical to two labeled examples, the pembroke table offered here is firmly attributed to the celebrated craftsman, John Townsend (1733-1809) of Newport. This table illustrates Townsend's work in the Federal style with bookend and icicle inlay decorating the same pembroke form employed by Townsend for Chippendale-style tables. This pattern of inlay was one of only a few configurations Townsend used for his Federal furniture and alternative patterns include the four-part bookend inlay and pendant bellflowers seen on the table offered as lot 124. The inlay seen on the table here is identical to that on two labelled pembroke tables now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (fig. 1) and the Kaufman collection as well as a third unlabelled example in a private collection. Furthermore, all four tables feature construction methods considered unique to John Townsend amongst Rhode Island craftsmen of his era. These methods include the cutting out of the drawer facade from the same block of wood used for the surrounding frame, the use of three-over-two cross braces dovetailed into the upper and lower side rails and the ovoid shaped void cut into the rail that serves as a handhold for opening the hinged leaf support. (See Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport: The Townsends and Goddards (Tenafly, New Jersey, 1984), figs. 2.12, 2.13 and 3.77 and for construction features, p. 90); J. Michael Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection (Washington D. C., 1986), cat. 67, pp. 172-173; for a similar table with slightly variant inlay, see Sotheby's New York, Important American Furniture from the Collection of the late Thomas Mellon and Betty Evans, June 19, 1998, lot 2073).
The one striking difference among these four tables is the shape of the drop leaves. Like the table offered here, the labeled example at the Metropolitan Museum bears leaves with rounded corners whereas the other two have leaves with squared corners. A comparison between the shaping of the leaves on this table and the Metropolitan Museum's table reveals that each are of identical length and depth, but the table offered here has slightly shallower corners that partly reveal the sides of the upper stiles. Pembroke tables with deep rounded leaves made by Townsend, such as that offered as lot 124, have inlaid decoration on the sides of the upper legs that is not present on the group discussed here. Such evidence suggests that the lack of inlay on the upper sides of the legs was intended to be concealed by the drop leaves. As the leaves on the table offered here reveal part of these undecorated areas, they might have been re-shaped at a later date. If this is the case, the uniformity of the end grain indicates it was done soon after the table's completion.
According to the present owner, the table was given to her great-great-grandparents, Peter and Mathilda (Zabriskie) Board upon their marriage in 1833. Made about forty years earlier, the table was undoubtedly commissioned for a previous generation of the Board or Zabriskie families, both prominent settlers of Paramus, New Jersey. The lack of any connections to the Newport area suggests that the table was an exported product. In the twentieth century, the table stood in the Zabriskie-Wessels-Board Mansion, the same house occupied by Peter and Mathilda Board a century earlier. Made of local sandstone in the Georgian style, the house survived until 1932, when it was destroyed by fire (for a photograph of the mansion and more on these families, see Bogert, Paramus: A Chronicle of Four Centuries (Paramus, New Jersey, 1961), pp. 40, 75, 89; Zabriskie, The Zabriskie Family, 2 vols. (Published by the author, 1963), vol. 1, pp. 37, 171, 369-70 and 679).
The one striking difference among these four tables is the shape of the drop leaves. Like the table offered here, the labeled example at the Metropolitan Museum bears leaves with rounded corners whereas the other two have leaves with squared corners. A comparison between the shaping of the leaves on this table and the Metropolitan Museum's table reveals that each are of identical length and depth, but the table offered here has slightly shallower corners that partly reveal the sides of the upper stiles. Pembroke tables with deep rounded leaves made by Townsend, such as that offered as lot 124, have inlaid decoration on the sides of the upper legs that is not present on the group discussed here. Such evidence suggests that the lack of inlay on the upper sides of the legs was intended to be concealed by the drop leaves. As the leaves on the table offered here reveal part of these undecorated areas, they might have been re-shaped at a later date. If this is the case, the uniformity of the end grain indicates it was done soon after the table's completion.
According to the present owner, the table was given to her great-great-grandparents, Peter and Mathilda (Zabriskie) Board upon their marriage in 1833. Made about forty years earlier, the table was undoubtedly commissioned for a previous generation of the Board or Zabriskie families, both prominent settlers of Paramus, New Jersey. The lack of any connections to the Newport area suggests that the table was an exported product. In the twentieth century, the table stood in the Zabriskie-Wessels-Board Mansion, the same house occupied by Peter and Mathilda Board a century earlier. Made of local sandstone in the Georgian style, the house survived until 1932, when it was destroyed by fire (for a photograph of the mansion and more on these families, see Bogert, Paramus: A Chronicle of Four Centuries (Paramus, New Jersey, 1961), pp. 40, 75, 89; Zabriskie, The Zabriskie Family, 2 vols. (Published by the author, 1963), vol. 1, pp. 37, 171, 369-70 and 679).