AN 18th CENTURY MAHOGANY BUREAU TABLE CARVED BY NEWPORT'S MOST CELEBRATED CABINETMAKER SOLD FOR A STUNNING $5.7 MILLION AT CHRISTIE'S NEW YORK ON WEDNESDAY MORNING, PLACING IT AMONG THE HIGHEST AUCTION PIECES EVER REALIZED FOR AN ITEM OF AMERICAN FURNITURE. OFFERED AT $700,000-900,000, THE TABLE WAS PURSUED BY MULTIPLE BIDDERS, WHO RAPIDLY DROVE THE PRICE TO THE $3 MILLION THRESHOLD. FROM THERE ON TWO DEDICATED BIDDERS IN THE SALESROOM BATTLED BACK AND FORTH FOR THE HANDSOMELY CARVED TABLE BEFORE A HUSHED AUDIENCE OF CLIENTS AND ON-LOOKERS, UNTIL AUCTIONEER JOHN HAYS DROPPED THE GAVEL AT $5 MILLION, WITH PREMIUM. THE FINAL PRICE REALIZED WAS $5,682,500. THE TABLE, KNOWN AS THE CATHERINE GODDARD CHIPPENDALE BLOCK-AND-SHELL CARVED AND FIGURED MAHOGANY BUREAU TABLE, IS ATTRIBUTED TO THE NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND CABINETMAKER JOHN GODDARD (1724-1785). MASTERFULLY DESIGNED AND CRAFTED, THE TABLE IS AN OUTSTANDING EXAMPLE OF THE CELEBRATED NEWPORT STYLE OF BLOCK-AND-SHELL CARVING. GODDARD WAS WIDELY RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF EARLY AMERICA'S MOST TALENTED CABINET-MAKERS AND HIS CREATIONS WERE SOUGHT AFTER BY THE PORT CITY'S MOST WELL TO DO MERCHANTS. A HANDWRITTEN LABEL IN THE TOP DRAWER OF THE TABLE INDICATES THAT GODDARD MADE THE KNEE-HOLE BUREAU CIRCA 1765 EXPRESSLY FOR HIS DAUGHTER, CATHERINE GODDARD, AND MAY HAVE GIVEN IT TO HER AS A WEDDING PRESENT. THE TABLE REMAINED WITHIN HIS DAUGHTER'S FAMILY THROUGH SEVERAL GENERATIONS OF DESCENDANTS UNTIL IT WAS SOLD BY THE CABINETMAKER'S GREAT-GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER MARY BRIGG (WEAVER) CASE IN THE EARLY 1900s. THE TABLE LAST SOLD AT AUCTION IN JANUARY 2005 FOR $940,000.
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