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.

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