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Lot Essay
Exhibiting a cylinder lid topped by two drawers, a case fitted with two short over one long drawer and tapering reeded legs, along with the delicate proportions and features distinctive to Seymour forms, this desk is a fine example of sophisticated Federal furniture produced in Boston in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
John Seymour and his son Thomas emigrated from England to Portland, Maine in 1785, moving to Boston in 1794. These eminent Boston cabinetmakers seamlessly integrated materials, pattern and meticulous workmanship creating beautiful forms. They introduced to Boston the refinement of English standards of craftsmanship, veneer use and neoclassical design.
This form of desk has traditionally been associated with the Seymours. A similar example is illustrated in Stoneman, John and Thomas Seymour: Cabinetmakers in Boston, 1794-1816 (Boston, 1959), pp. 130, fig. 64. Though the illustrated example has a bookcase top, its lower section is remarkably similar to the example offered here. In overall form and proportion, as well as drawer arrangement and the turned and reeded legs with tapering feet, this desk is in keeping with others which are considered typical of the Seymour shop. A similar desk, with tambour, but also without an upper bookcase, sold in these Rooms, 2 June 1990, lot 210. See also Northeast Auctions, 5 March 1995, lot 267 and Stoneman, fig. 64A.
John Seymour and his son Thomas emigrated from England to Portland, Maine in 1785, moving to Boston in 1794. These eminent Boston cabinetmakers seamlessly integrated materials, pattern and meticulous workmanship creating beautiful forms. They introduced to Boston the refinement of English standards of craftsmanship, veneer use and neoclassical design.
This form of desk has traditionally been associated with the Seymours. A similar example is illustrated in Stoneman, John and Thomas Seymour: Cabinetmakers in Boston, 1794-1816 (Boston, 1959), pp. 130, fig. 64. Though the illustrated example has a bookcase top, its lower section is remarkably similar to the example offered here. In overall form and proportion, as well as drawer arrangement and the turned and reeded legs with tapering feet, this desk is in keeping with others which are considered typical of the Seymour shop. A similar desk, with tambour, but also without an upper bookcase, sold in these Rooms, 2 June 1990, lot 210. See also Northeast Auctions, 5 March 1995, lot 267 and Stoneman, fig. 64A.