A CHIPPENDALE BLOCK-AND-SHELL CARVED MAHOGANY BUREAU TABLE

One of the most iconic designs from eighteenth-century America, the carved shells on this bureau table illustrate the masterful handiwork of renowned Newport cabinetmaker, John Townsend (1733-1809). With the inner C-scroll overlapping the lowermost lobes, the shells are attributed to Townsend’s authorship as they are distinct to the body of work signed, labeled or otherwise firmly ascribed to his shop and contrast with most other interpretations of this design, which feature lowermost lobes that lie atop the inner C-scroll device. Furthermore, with the cross-hatched interiors, the shells are typical of the cabinetmaker’s later work. Similar embellishment is seen on his forms documented to the late 1780s and early 1790s, but as Morrison H. Heckscher notes, may have been used by the cabinetmaker considerably earlier. As declared by Heckscher, “All that is certain is that Townsend had found his ideal shell and made no further changes” (Morrison H. Heckscher, John Townsend: Newport Cabinetmaker (New York, 2005), p. 105; for labeled forms with identical shells, see Heckscher, cats. 19-22, pp. 115-125).