Property from a Private Connecticut Collection

Very Fine and Rare Pair of Federal Inlaid and Figured Mahogany and Birchwood Games Tables, Attributed to John Seymour (1738–1818) and/or Thomas Seymour (1771–1848), Boston, Massachusetts, Circa 1795

Auction Closed

January 23, 04:26 PM GMT

Estimate

25,000 - 35,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Very Fine and Rare Pair of Federal Inlaid and Figured Mahogany and Birchwood Games Tables

Attributed to John Seymour (1738–1818) and/or Thomas Seymour (1771–1848)

Boston, Massachusetts

Circa 1795


Each appear to retain their original surface. One with a hand-written note on underside of table stating provenance.


Height 29 in. by Width 36 in. by Depth 17 5/8 in.

Colonel and Mrs. Garbisch, Pokety Farms, Maryland;

GKS Bush Antiques, Washington, DC;

Northeast Auctions, Manchester, New Hampshire, Important Americana & Folk Art, August 2, 1992, lot 439;

Marguerite Riordan, Stonington, Connecticut;

Sotheby’s, New York, Triumphant Grace: Important Americana from the Collection of Barbara and Arun Singh, January 25, 2020, lot 1131.

With a design copied from a pattern illustrated by Thomas Sheraton in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing-Book, these games tables no doubt represented the height of fashion in Federal Boston.1 Their meticulous craftsmanship and exceptional design are consistent with the work of John (1738-1818) and Thomas Seymour (1771-1849) of Boston. The rich materials, unity of design, serpentine-front form with turret corners, turned legs of this distinct type, and use of highly visual veneers are common in their shop practice. Retaining their original surface, these tables have remarkably remained intact as a pair for over 200 years.


For tables attributed to the Seymours with comparable details, see two worktables and two card tables illustrated in Robert Mussey, The Furniture Masterworks of John & Thomas Seymour (Salem: Peabody Essex Museum, 2003), no. 83, p. 300-301, no. 87, p. 308-9, no. 78, p. 290-291, and no. 79, p. 292-293. All of the aforementioned tables are attributed to Thomas Seymour and two may have been made in partnership with John, who retired from the business in 1808.


These tables represent a form that was popular throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire during the Federal period. For tables of similar form, see one at the Yale University Art Gallery made by Alden Spooner (1784-1877) of Athol, Massachusetts and a pair made for the merchant, Jacob Wendell, by Judkins and Senter of Portsmouth.2


1 London, 1793, plate 11.


2 See David Barquist, American Tables and Looking Glasses (New Haven: Yale University Arts Gallery), no. 82, p. 179-80 and Plain and Elegant, Rich & Common: Documented New Hampshire Furniture, 1750-1850 (Concord: The New Hampshire Historical Society, 1979), no. 9.



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