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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
ClassificationsFurniture – Case furniture and boxes
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. Cazeaux"
In ink on paper label on bottom of top drawer: "E. W. Cazeaux"
ProvenanceAbout 1815-1851, Elizabeth Warner Cazeaux (b. 1783 – d. 1851), Medford, MA [See note 1]. 1940, sold by Mrs. Jonathan Hayes III to W. M. Jacobs, Antique Galleries, Boston [See note 2]; 1940, sold by W. M. Jacobs to Maxim Karolik (b. 1893 – d. 1963), Newport, RI; 1941, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Maxim Karolik to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 9, 1941)
NOTES:
[1] Inside the bureau is a handwritten label which reads “E. W. Cazeaux”, which is almost certainly a reference to Elizabeth Warner Pitts, who married Gerard Cazeaux in 1815.
[2] According to information provided by the dealer, who also suggested it had been in the Hayes family for generations. This provenance has not yet been verified.
NOTES:
[1] Inside the bureau is a handwritten label which reads “E. W. Cazeaux”, which is almost certainly a reference to Elizabeth Warner Pitts, who married Gerard Cazeaux in 1815.
[2] According to information provided by the dealer, who also suggested it had been in the Hayes family for generations. This provenance has not yet been verified.