A FEDERAL INLAID MAHOGANY DESK

PROBABLY JOHN AND THOMAS SEYMOUR, BOSTON, 1790-1810

Details

A FEDERAL INLAID MAHOGANY DESK
Probably John and Thomas Seymour, Boston, 1790-1810
The rectangular top above tambour doors sliding open to a compartmented interior with two pairs of stacked short drawers, each over three valanced pigeonholes, all flanked by string-inlaid pilasters above a folded hinged writing surface over a conforming case fitted with two string-inlaid stacked long drawers with cockbeaded surrounds flanked by string-inlaid stiles above an inlaid skirt, on square tapering legs with banded cuffs
42in. high, 35in. wide, 21in. deep

Provenance

John Evans, 1850
Laura W. Evans, 1900, Alexandria, Virginia
George H. Evans, 1923

Lot Essay

With delicate proportions, the tambour desk offered here is a fine expression of a hallmark Seymour form. It shares construction and decorative details with labeled Seymour examples and closely resembles desks attributed to the Seymours (see Stoneman, John and Thomas Seymour (Boston, 1959), pp.63,67). Highly characteristic of the eminent Boston cabinetmakers is the thin top, fine dovetails, numbered interior drawer bottoms, blue-green painted pigeonholes, and interrupted tambour doors. Nearly identical to a desk illustrated in A Supplement to John and Thomas Seymour (Boston, 1984), p.13, attributed to the Seymour shop, are the bookend and beehive-terminal inlaid pilasters on all vertical members, shaped rectangular line inlay on the bottom drawers and the bellflower inlay on the legs.