Rhode Island Furniture Archive - Yale University Art Gallery

Photo: Courtesy Sotheby's, New York Click the image to enlarge	Tea table
	Object number RIF4191
	Maker Maker, attributed to John Goddard, American, 1723–1785
	Dimensions 26 3/4 � 33 � 19 1/2 in. (67.945 � 83.82 � 49.53 cm)
	Date 1760–65
	Current location Private Collection
	Geography Made in Newport, Rhode Island (view a map of Rhode Island)
	Medium Mahogany (primary); maple (tabs rabetted to the frame); chestnut (glue blocks)
	Marks None
	Inscriptions "Belonged to / Mrs. Hope Ives.," in ink, on paper label glued to underside; "M B Ives," in graphite, on one rabbeted block attaching top to frame; "[?] B Ives," in graphite, on underside partially obscured by paper labels; "Property of R. H. I. Goddard / 66 Power St Providence R.I. / John Goddard Tea Table, Newport, 1763 / Exact duplicate of Jabez Bowen / Tea Table (signed John Goddard) / Now owned by H. F. duPont, letters / concerning same in possision (sic) of R. I. School of Design," in typescript, on paper label glued to underside; “1,” “2,” “3,” “4,” “5,” “6,” “7,” “8,” “9,” and “10,” in chalk, on rails next to blocks; “2,” “4,” and “9” on some corresponding blocks.; large circle incised on underside of top
	Provenance Originally owned by Nicholas Brown (1729–1791), Providence, Rhode Island; by descent to his daughter Mrs. Thomas Poynton Ives (n�e Hope Brown, 1773–1855), Providence, 1792; by descent to her son, Moses Brown Ives (1794–1857), Providence; by descent to his daughter, Mrs. Henry Grinnell Russell (n�e Hope Brown Ives, 1839–1909), Providence; by inheritance to her cousin, Mr. Robert Hale Ives Goddard (1837–1916), Providence, 1910 or 1911; by descent to Mr. Robert Hale Ives Goddard (1880–1945) and Mrs. Robert Hale Ives Goddard (n�e Margaret Hazard, 1886–1969), Providence, Rhode Island; by descent to Mr. Robert Hale Ives Goddard (1909–2003) and Mrs. Robert Hales Ives Goddard (n�e Hope Drury, 1915–2013), Providence, Rhode Island; consigned to Sotheby's, New York, January 21, 2005, lot 809
	Associated names Nicholas Brown Robert Hale Ives Goddard Mrs. Robert Hale Ives Goddard Hope Brown Ives Moses Brown Ives Sotheby's Hope Brown Ives Mrs. Robert Hale Ives Goddard Robert Hale Ives Goddard Robert Hale Ives Goddard
	Construction An ogee-shaped molding is an integral part of the single-board, oblong top, which has the front faces of its square outset corners; the front faces of its short rails are double-serpentine in plan and elevation, and their inside faces are straight. The front faces of its long rails are alternately serpentine and straight in plan and elevation, and their inside faces are straight. The underside of the top is cut out at its perimeter and at each corner around the blocks atop each leg. The top is secured to its frame by six glue blocks (two at each long and one at each short rail) and by ten tabs set into grooves in the frame (three in one long rail, two in the other, and three in one short rail and two in the other) and fixed with countersunk screws to its underside. The rails are tenoned and double-wood-pinned to the blocks atop each leg; the pins are not visible at the outer faces of the legs. Some are missing. The legs are angular and square in section, with stylized-acanthus-carved knees, deeply carved tendons and undercut ankles and undercut molded talons grasping elongated ball feet. Glued to the sides of each leg is a carved knee bracket. Examined by P. E. Kane, September 17, 2015; notes compiled by T. B. Lloyd.
	Notes The ink inscription on the paper label on the underside of the table is in Anne Allen Dorr's handwriting (1810-1884).
	See also RIF143 RIF150 RIF436 RIF902 RIF1424 RIF1425 RIF4192
	Bibliography Ralph E. Carpenter, Jr., The Arts and Crafts of Newport, Rhode Island, 1640–1820 (Newport, R.I.: Preservation Society of Newport County, 1954), 105, no. 77, ill. Sotheby's, New York, Property of the Goddard Family, sale cat. (January 22, 2005), 26–44, lot 809, ill. Barbara Snow, "Living with Antiques: The Providence Home of Mrs. R.H. Ives Goddard," Antiques 87, no. 5 (May 1965): 582, ill. Amy Coes, "A Bill of Sale from John Goddard to John Brown and the Furniture It Documents," Antiques 169, no. 5 (May 2006): p.130; p.133n18. Lita Solis-Cohen, "Rare Open Talon Tea Table Coming to Market," Maine Antique Digest (June 2004): 11-A. Alice Winchester, "Antiques," Antiques 64, no. 1 (July 1953): 28, ill. Sotheby's, New York, Important Americana Including Property from the Collection of Joan Oestreich Kend, sale cat. (January 20–21, 2017), fig. 1. Patricia E. Kane et al., Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2016), 330n5.