Lot Essay
With its triple peaked pediment, pointed arch windows, inlaid lower case pilasters and elongated spade feet, this secretary bookcase incorporates many of the design elements typically associated with the cabinetmaking shop of John and Thomas Seymour. Related examples also attributed to the Seymours demonstrate the frequency with which
these motifs were applied, and include a secretary bookcase with similarly elongated windows over three short drawers in the Karolik Collection, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, a secretary bookcase with comparably elongated spade feet (both examples illustrated in Vernon C. Stoneman, John and Thomas Seymour: Cabinetmakers in Boston, 1794-1816, (Boston, 1959), the first, p. 115, fig. 54; the second, pp. 104-105, fig. 47), and a secretary bookcase assessed by Albert Sack as "Best" (see, Albert Sack, Fine Points of Furniture, (New York, 1950), p. 168).
Likewise, unusual features on this secretary bookcase as well as related features on non-Seymour-Boston-attributed forms suggest the movement of journeymen and commerce of aesthetic ideas and construction techniques within a specific regional cabinetmaking community. The atypical dentil molding under the cornice of this secretary bookcase suggests an awareness of neighboring cabinetmaking practices, just as the unusual inlaid glaze surrounds demonstrate variation within a repeated motif. Similarly, a card-table from
[ ] has elongated spade feet similar to those seen on several Seymour-attributed objects (see, Benjamin Hewitt, "Regional Characteristics of American Federal Period Card-Tables," Work of Many Hands: Card-Tables in Federal America, 1790-1820, fig. 30, p. 63).
these motifs were applied, and include a secretary bookcase with similarly elongated windows over three short drawers in the Karolik Collection, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, a secretary bookcase with comparably elongated spade feet (both examples illustrated in Vernon C. Stoneman, John and Thomas Seymour: Cabinetmakers in Boston, 1794-1816, (Boston, 1959), the first, p. 115, fig. 54; the second, pp. 104-105, fig. 47), and a secretary bookcase assessed by Albert Sack as "Best" (see, Albert Sack, Fine Points of Furniture, (New York, 1950), p. 168).
Likewise, unusual features on this secretary bookcase as well as related features on non-Seymour-Boston-attributed forms suggest the movement of journeymen and commerce of aesthetic ideas and construction techniques within a specific regional cabinetmaking community. The atypical dentil molding under the cornice of this secretary bookcase suggests an awareness of neighboring cabinetmaking practices, just as the unusual inlaid glaze surrounds demonstrate variation within a repeated motif. Similarly, a card-table from
[ ] has elongated spade feet similar to those seen on several Seymour-attributed objects (see, Benjamin Hewitt, "Regional Characteristics of American Federal Period Card-Tables," Work of Many Hands: Card-Tables in Federal America, 1790-1820, fig. 30, p. 63).