Lot Essay
Introduced into the American vocabulary via English trained craftsmen and pattern books during the 1790s, the tambour desk reflects the changing tastes and demands of Boston's elite. While many cabinetmakers adopted the form, it is the work of John and Thomas Seymour that is regarded as its finest manifestation and a hallmark of their personal style.
The desk offered here is a striking example of how Seymour & Son seamlessly integrated materials, pattern and meticulous workmanship to create a balanced design. The restrained linearity of the form is enlivened by the rich variety of surface inlay and the rythym of brasses. The design is complex while tempered by subtle consistencies from top to bottom. For example, the oval brasses of the case echo the ivory inlay of the top, while the arches above are visually rooted in the horizontal drawers below.
The construction elements of this desk closely mirror those on the two labeled desks by Seymour. Two labeled tambours by Seymour serve as the basis of attribution for other desks. The first is a desk in the collection of Winterthur (illustrated in Charles Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period (New York, 1966), p.229. fig.184. The second, in a private collection, is illustrated in Vernon C. Stoneman, John and Thomas Seymour (Boston, 1959), p.49.
Aspects of construction and decoration in the desk offered here that are consistent with the labeled Seymour examples include: an upper section with thin drawer bottoms; a lower section with relatively thick members; finely cut, narrow dovetails throughout, cockbeading set into drawer fronts; a sloping fall front lid concealing a locking mechanism. Furthermore, decorative features such as the urn-shaped ivory escutcheons and such specific choices of inlay as the satinwood and mahogany striped tambour doors are idioms of the Seymour style. Other features found on this desk associated with Seymour shop practices include the remnants of blue-green or "robin's-egg blue" paint at the back and in the wells of the pigeonholes (also found on the Winterthur example) as well as original light blue paper lining the drawers of the bottom section.
The desk offered here relates closely to two other examples. One is in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art and is illustrated here; the second is in the Kaufman Collection (see J. Michael Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection (Washington, 1986), p.205, fig.83). A two-drawer example was sold in these Rooms, June 17, 1997, lot 417.
The desk offered here is a striking example of how Seymour & Son seamlessly integrated materials, pattern and meticulous workmanship to create a balanced design. The restrained linearity of the form is enlivened by the rich variety of surface inlay and the rythym of brasses. The design is complex while tempered by subtle consistencies from top to bottom. For example, the oval brasses of the case echo the ivory inlay of the top, while the arches above are visually rooted in the horizontal drawers below.
The construction elements of this desk closely mirror those on the two labeled desks by Seymour. Two labeled tambours by Seymour serve as the basis of attribution for other desks. The first is a desk in the collection of Winterthur (illustrated in Charles Montgomery, American Furniture: The Federal Period (New York, 1966), p.229. fig.184. The second, in a private collection, is illustrated in Vernon C. Stoneman, John and Thomas Seymour (Boston, 1959), p.49.
Aspects of construction and decoration in the desk offered here that are consistent with the labeled Seymour examples include: an upper section with thin drawer bottoms; a lower section with relatively thick members; finely cut, narrow dovetails throughout, cockbeading set into drawer fronts; a sloping fall front lid concealing a locking mechanism. Furthermore, decorative features such as the urn-shaped ivory escutcheons and such specific choices of inlay as the satinwood and mahogany striped tambour doors are idioms of the Seymour style. Other features found on this desk associated with Seymour shop practices include the remnants of blue-green or "robin's-egg blue" paint at the back and in the wells of the pigeonholes (also found on the Winterthur example) as well as original light blue paper lining the drawers of the bottom section.
The desk offered here relates closely to two other examples. One is in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art and is illustrated here; the second is in the Kaufman Collection (see J. Michael Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection (Washington, 1986), p.205, fig.83). A two-drawer example was sold in these Rooms, June 17, 1997, lot 417.