Thomas Seymour
Side Chair

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Side Chair
Datec. 1819–1825
Made inBoston, Massachusetts, United States
MediumMahogany; ash, soft maple, mahogany, and white oak
Dimensions33 1/4 × 19 1/2 × 21 3/4 in. (84.5 × 49.5 × 55.2 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by the Houston Junior Woman's Club
Object numberB.88.2
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Chillman Parlor
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

This chair represents a distinct Boston interpretation of the classically inspired klismos chair. The bold reeding of the legs, stiles, and front seat rail is seen on a number of different Boston models. Seemingly unique to Boston design are the rectangular tablets of the crest and upper stay rails, here ornamented with crisply carved acanthus leaf and scroll decoration.

Technical notes: Mahogany; ash (slip seat), soft maple (front and rear seat rails), mahogany (left seat rail), white oak (left rear corner block.)

Related examples: Very similar chairs were purchased by Nathan Appleton for his Boston house in 1819 (Talbott 1975, pp. 885, 887, fig. 12); the Annual Summer New Hampshire Auction, Manchester, August 5–6, 1995, lots 610, 633. A related pair is at MMA (acc. nos. 1971.180.29–.30). The Bayou Bend chair was one of three purchased by the Sack firm (Talbott 1991, p. 965; Sack 1969–92, vol. 10, p. 2679, no. P6033). For a variant with paw feet, see Tracy et al. 1970, no. 30.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.


Provenance[Israel Sack, Inc., New York]; purchased by MFAH, 1988.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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