Goddard Townsend School, Rhode Island, 1775-1790, with solid figured mahogany single board top with fluted edge, serpentine skirts with beaded moldings on stop fluted legs with pierced corner brackets, mahogany blocking, 30-3/4 x 41-3/4 x 21-1/4 in.

Provenance: Estate of Ivor and Anne Massey, sold Christie's New York, January, 1998, lot 452 for $74,000; Israel Sack, Inc.; bequest of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Hennage; Property deaccessioned by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; all proceeds to benefit The Joseph H. and June S. Hennage Fund

Note: With tall legs and elegant proportion, this fine table is further distinguished by the unusual feature of its serpentine skirt rails. Related Rhode Island tables are listed in the Rhode Island Furniture Archive at Yale and include an example at the Brooklyn Museum. For more on this group see Philip Zea, "The Serpentine Furniture of Colonial Newport", in Luke Beckerdite, ed, American Furniture, 1999, this example is recorded in the RIFA archives reference 2551. It is also illustrated in Israel Sack, Opportunities in American Antiques, page 26, number P6773.

exceptionally fine condition with no structural repairs, some warping to top and light surface wear and finish distress, one very small chip at a side corner bracket, other very minor, surface flaws consistent with age