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Lot Essay
Bearing the distinctive lettered inscriptions, this chest-of-drawers can be firmly attributed to Daniel Spencer (1741-1796), a nephew of renowned Newport cabinetmaker John Goddard (1724-1785). As noted by Patricia Kane and the team of scholars at the Rhode Island Furniture Archive, the maker of this chest inscribed cursive “I”s on the interior of the drawer sides near the junctures with the drawer front. These letters made indicate “inside” or “interior”, but may also be numerical “1”s. Virtually identical marks are seen on a desk-and-bookcase signed by Spencer and on several other casepieces, including the six-shell desk-and-bookcase made for John Brown, one of the nine known examples of this celebrated form. Another of these, the desk-and-bookcase made for John's brother Nicholas Brown lacks the drawer markings but with identical construction details, was very probably also made by Spencer (The Rhode Island Furniture Archive at the Yale University Art Gallery, RIF1232 and RIF3601; Patricia E. Kane, Art & Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650-1830 (New Haven, 2016), p. 308).
Born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, Daniel Spencer was the son of Thomas Spencer (1717-1753) and Margaret Goddard (1718-1765), a sister of John Goddard. After his father’s death, the family moved to Newport where Daniel may have trained under his uncle. During the 1760s, he was a cabinetmaker in Newport and nearby Dartmouth, Massachusetts and by 1772, he had relocated to Providence. Throughout his career, Daniel Spencer was involved in several lawsuits and perhaps due to a failure to pay debts, he moved to Lexington, Kentucky in the early 1790s where he died in 1796. See Patricia E. Kane, “Daniel Spencer, 1741-1796,” Rhode Island Furniture Archive.
Described by Morrison H. Heckscher as a “precursor of Neoclassicism,” stop-fluting was probably first used in Rhode Island in the 1780s, indicating that this chest was made while Spencer was working in Providence but before his departure to Kentucky soon after 1790 (Morrison H. Heckscher, “Stop-Fluted Furniture,” John Townsend Newport Cabinetmaker (New Haven, Connecticut, 2005), p. 140).
Born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, Daniel Spencer was the son of Thomas Spencer (1717-1753) and Margaret Goddard (1718-1765), a sister of John Goddard. After his father’s death, the family moved to Newport where Daniel may have trained under his uncle. During the 1760s, he was a cabinetmaker in Newport and nearby Dartmouth, Massachusetts and by 1772, he had relocated to Providence. Throughout his career, Daniel Spencer was involved in several lawsuits and perhaps due to a failure to pay debts, he moved to Lexington, Kentucky in the early 1790s where he died in 1796. See Patricia E. Kane, “Daniel Spencer, 1741-1796,” Rhode Island Furniture Archive.
Described by Morrison H. Heckscher as a “precursor of Neoclassicism,” stop-fluting was probably first used in Rhode Island in the 1780s, indicating that this chest was made while Spencer was working in Providence but before his departure to Kentucky soon after 1790 (Morrison H. Heckscher, “Stop-Fluted Furniture,” John Townsend Newport Cabinetmaker (New Haven, Connecticut, 2005), p. 140).