VERY FINE AND RARE PAIR OF FEDERAL INLAID AND FIGURED MAHOGANY, BIRCHWOOD AND ROSEWOOD GAMES TABLE, ATTRIBUTED TO THOMAS AND OR JOHN SEYMOUR, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1795

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.

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.[i] 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. [ii]

[i] London, 1793, plate 11.

[ii] 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.