This dining table is an example of the type of architectural furnishings considered to be necessary in 18th-century dining spaces. It is an example of 18th-century modular design, as the table can separate into two consoles and a smaller center table. The plinths above each leg are decorated with four undulating vertical blocks or “book inlay,” a feature associated with the workshop of John Townsend. On the legs is a string of five bellflowers centering a spine of black inlay—characteristic of marquetry in Newport. Pasted on the center of one of the back rails of one of the consoles is a rectangular engraved label reading MADE BY / JOHN TOWNSEND, / NEWPORT. with the date 1796 written by hand.
