This splendid bureau table is one of the most brilliant renditions of the Newport block-front—an acknowledged masterpiece of American design. The form, representing the marriage of the dressing table and chest of drawers, was variously interpreted in Rhode Island. A handful are known with plain facades, and within the block-front group a series of options were available, primarily in the execution of the prospect door and the outfitting of the top drawer.

The Bayou Bend bureau table belongs to a group confidently attributed to John Townsend. The son of Christopher Townsend, presumably he apprenticed with his father. During the course of his long career he signed or labeled more than thirty pieces of furniture, a number far greater than any other eighteenth-century American cabinetmaker (see B.66.11.1–.2). This unparalleled body of documented work, identifiable motifs, and construction techniques make it possible to identify Townsend’s cabinetry with a high degree of certainty. His earliest block-front case piece is dated 1765, and for more than three decades he continued to work in this idiom. John Townsend’s furniture offers a unique survey of one cabinet shop’s production and chronicles the maker’s rise to become one of America’s master craftsmen.

Technical notes: Mahogany; chestnut (interior framing, backboard, bottom), yellow-poplar (drawer, sides, back, and bottoms, drawer runners). The foot blocks’ contour corresponds to the bracket feet. Between the side brackets a molding has been set in. The dividers are dovetailed in and a bead surrounds each opening. There is a single shelf in the cabinet. A full dustboard separates the top drawer and the first tier of flanking drawers. Braces are attached to the sides just above the top drawer with a second set above running side to side. At the top of the backboard is the key device associated with Townsend’s shop. The brasses appear to be original. A drawer is inscribed: “Eliza Wightman” (see provenance).

Related examples: Downs 1952, no. 175; Heckscher 1982, pp. 1150–51; Moses 1984, pp. 100, 134; Heckscher 1985, pp. 211–12, no. 135; Ward 1988, pp. 40, 216–17, no. 109.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.