'''Goddard and Townsend''' (or Townsend-Goddard) is a rare style of furniture made in Newport,_Rhode_Island in the 18th century.
The furniture is named after Townsend and Goddard families, who were cabinentmakers in Newport. The families were related through marriage. John Townsend (1733-1809) and John Goddard (1724-1785) were among the most famous of the artisans and many of their works were signed. The furniture often featured a uniquely American blend of alternating convex and concave blocks and shells.
Twenty-one members of successive generations of these two intermarried families worked as cabinetmakers over a period of 120 years, selling their products not only in New England but also in the coastal trade and in the West Indies. [Magazine Antiques; April, 1995 - Ralph E. Carpenter ]
A single Mahogany secretary bookcase made by Christopher Townsend (John's father) in 1740 sold at auction in New York for $8.25 million. John Goddard made a famous six-shell desk-bookcase for Providence merchant Nicholas_Brown. It was sold by the Brown family in 1989, for-- $12.1 million -- a record for a piece of American furniture at auction. The Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art, Boston_Museum_of_Fine_Art, and Preservation_Society_of_Newport_County own works of Goddard-Townsend.
==References and external links==
*Billy Van Siclen, "The Townsend Touch: Newport's furniture-design revolutionary finds a showcase at the Met in New York," ''Providence Journal'', Sunday, May 22, 2005
*Redwood Library Records of the Goddards and Townsends
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==See also==
* List_of_furniture_designers.
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Category:Furniture
Category:Rhode_Island_culture
Category:Chairs
Category:People_from_Rhode_Island
Category:Furniture_designers
Category:Furniture_makers