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Newport Kneehole Desk
Model:
Additional Photos:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Dimensions:
36.5”W x 34.5”H x 20.5”D
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Price: Call For Pricing
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This is a Newport Kneehole Desk, and the only reproduction piece which Alan has made. The original of this desk resides in the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. While similar to desks by John and other Townsends and John and other Goddards, it is believed that this desk was made by Edmund Townsend.
The last half of the 18th Century saw the advent of the block front style of design which was not copied by the American Colonists from the English, the Continental Europeans, or the Asian furniture makers of the time. Block fronts were made primarily in Newport, Rhode Island, but also in Boston, although the Boston style of block front differs in important respects.
When comparing American and English antiques of this period, even if certain details bear similarities, one striking feature of the American designs is an emphasis on verticality. The vertical nature of 18th Century American furniture is perhaps most obvious in the tall secretaries of Newport which can reach nearly eleven feet in height. But even on this diminutive Newport Kneehole Desk, the block front design emphasizes the vertical line. Most of these desks were in fact small bureaus and these pieces are sometimes known as bureau tables. However, occasionally John Townsend and others made the bureau table into a working desk, and Turner’s piece is such an example. The top drawer is a drop front and pulls out to offer both a writing surface and to reveal a fully fitted case, complete with cubbies and small drawers for stamps and other brick-a-brack. Behind the door is a convenient place to store flat documents.
In this example, the drawers are convex by one-half inch to a tight radius. Unlike many of Turner’s pieces, in this example it is not the drawers themselves which are cockbeaded, but rather the case and drawer blades, which is of necessity given the block front design, and is period appropriate.
As is traditional in many block front pieces, the convex drawers finish on the top drawer with three shells, two outer convex shells, typically applied, and an integral concave shell.
This piece is heavily carved. The four shells are the obvious examples. Note, however, that the fret scroll foot is also not subject to machine work but instead must be hand carved on the front four feet. Likewise, the base molding must be carved in the same area. All of the drawer blades are also carved. The moldings were made with either wooden molding planes or by carving and with scratch stocks. There is no router or shaper work on this piece.
All of the carvings show the mark of the maker; none are perfect. The center drawer shell is particularly challenging. The top drawer front is 7/8 inch thick; at its deepest point, the carved shell is 3/4 inch thick, leaving only 1/8 inch for any error. While Turner executed this correctly the first time, he had an extra drawer blank from the same board in reserve if necessary.
All of the drawers feature hand cut dovetails in the usual fashion. The drawer parts are hard maple, including solid bottoms. This is a variation from the original, where all of the drawer parts were made of eastern white pine. Also on the original, the grain of the drawer bottoms ran front to back instead of side to side. Even in the museum setting, the drawers of the original do not operate in the summer months; Turner’s operate year round with a very silky feel. This piece is a study in dovetails, many not visible; it contains over 350.
Another example of the hand carving on this piece are the drawer blades, sometimes known as drawer dividers. All of these, and the drawer fronts, must be very carefully aligned to establish and hold a precise vertical line. Even a small variation would be distracting to the eye. The cockbeading on the drawer blades is integral to the blade and is hand scraped and carved. The sliding dovetails which attach the blades to the carcase sides are all hand cut, both as to pins and sockets. This hand cutting is necessary because the angle is 19.7 degrees and the 3/16 inch cockbead, which in the case of the carcase is let into a rebate, must meet at the exact same corner for proper visual effect. Note that the drawer blades are 9/16 inch deep into the carcase, leaving the same 3/16 inch to the outside of the blade on the carcase side as is presented by the 3/16 inch cockbeading.
Historians have some confidence that the original of this piece was not made by John Townsend because the center of the door shell has no scroll. With each of the rays coming to a point, careful carving is needed. Note that even on the recessed door, which is set back approximately 7 inches from the face, the door is framed by the same 3/16 inch cockbeading present elsewhere on the piece. On the original, in the usual fashion, the hinges are let into both the door and to the frame. However, Turner chose an alternate route and cocked the hinges to the left so that the barrels are presented as entirely over the door, thus leaving intact the delicate cockbead which frames the opening.
The brasses were hand cast in England and are similar to the pierced plates on the original. Londonderry Brasses was a wonderful supplier to work with. While on the subject of hardware, the hinges and the hooks and eyes for the top drawer were hand made of period appropriate steel by Ball & Ball of Exton, Pennsylvania. Note that on the gallery photograph the studs from the brasses protrude. These have since been countersunk.
The fitted drawer (the gallery) was a challenge in working in the miniature. All of the drawer blades and partitions are 1/4 inch thick Mahogany and all of the joints for these partitions, including both the stopped dados (which cannot be seen) and the 30 degree mitered dados, were cut entirely by hand using both paring chisels, a marking knife, and a hand router plane. These drawers follow the same block front design as the large drawers. The drawer sides and bottoms are quartersawn sycamore, which also represents a deviation from the original pine drawer parts.
While on the subject of deviations from the original, the back of the original consists of two one half inch thick Pine planks, unfinished and nailed in place. Although not photographed, the back of Turner’s piece is frame and flat panel, Solid Mahogany, with the center stiles mirroring the three divisions of the front of the piece. The back of this desk need not be hidden against a wall.
Although not visible in the photography presented, the Mahogany feet are in fact not structural members, but are purely decorative. This is because they overhang the case is all respects and are primarily attached only to the base molding. The weight is carried by horizontal grained corner blocks, which is another deviation from the original. By and large, only William Scott of Williamsburg, Virginia, used layered corner blocks while most others used vertical grain corner blocks. On some antiques, including museum pieces, because of the cross-grain situation presented by the vertical grain corner blocks being glued to the horizontal grain feet, many feet are split. Using horizontal grain corner blocks, with the grain running both side to side and front to back in alternate layers similar to plywood, means that the corner blocks move seasonally with the feet, and a long grain glue surface is presented to both sides of the feet for strength.
A piece of this quality should have a secret compartment, although the original does not. The floor board of Kneehole compartment is loose and can be pushed down at the back edge and lifted out, leaving one and one half inches for the storage of valuables or secrets.
A carefully study of any of the Newport Kneehole Desks is warranted because these pieces have perhaps the most integrated design of any piece of furniture ever made. All details are consistent; curves flow into each other smoothly and without interruption. The width of the cockbeading, the same throughout, equals the thickness of the carcase outside of the sliding dovetail drawer blade. The shells line up with, and smoothly complete, the blocks. The cockbead on the crown molding equals the rest of the cockbeading.
All of the originals were made of Cuban Mahogany, which has not been available since approximately 1920, and was a rare wood after the mid 19th Century. In order to try to achieve the rich color of the original Cuban Mahogany, Turner used an undercoat of lemon yellow aniline dye, followed by a mixture of lime and water which chemically reacts with the Mahogany to create a strong red tone. This red tone, overcoating the yellow dye, results in a deep red orange color which is quite permanent. Mahogany cannot be purchased as flitch wood because it is all sawn in the country of origin and boards from individual trees are not kept in order. Accordingly, color variations were handled with toned shellac. This piece is top coated in lacquer and rubbed out by hand with dark wax.
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