Property from the Collection of LISA CURTIS DE BEAUMONT
Daniel Curtis and his wife Ariana Wormely Curtis, right foreground of painting, Sargent, An Interior in Venice (begun 1898). Behind them, their son Ralph leaning against a gilt table. Ralph Custis' new wife, Lisa Colt Rotch Curtis, pours tea.
Courtsey of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Courtsey of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
THE SARGENT FAMILY FEDERAL MAHOGANY WORKTABLE
ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN SEYMOUR & SON, BOSTON, 1796-1813
Details
THE SARGENT FAMILY FEDERAL MAHOGANY WORKTABLE
attributed to john seymour & son, boston, 1796-1813
The rectangular top with Greek key border and lunette inlay above a conforming case fitted with two drawers and a work bag, on ring-turned and reed tapering legs with socket castors
29½in. high, 19¾in. wide, 15¾in. deep
attributed to john seymour & son, boston, 1796-1813
The rectangular top with Greek key border and lunette inlay above a conforming case fitted with two drawers and a work bag, on ring-turned and reed tapering legs with socket castors
29½in. high, 19¾in. wide, 15¾in. deep
Provenance
Daniel Sargent III (1731-1806) and his wife, Mary Turner Sargent (1743-1813)
Daniel Sargent IV (1764-1842), son
Maria Osborne Sargent (1803-1835), his daughter and her husband, Thomas Buckminster Curtis (1795-1871, d. Paris)
Daniel Sargent Curtis (1825-1908), son and his wife, Ariana Randolph Wormeley Curtis (1833-1922, d. Venice)
Ralph Wormeley Curtis (1854-1922), son
Eliza de Wolf Colt Rotch Curtis, his wife
Sylvia Curtis Steinert (b. 1899), daughter
Present Owner
Daniel Sargent IV (1764-1842), son
Maria Osborne Sargent (1803-1835), his daughter and her husband, Thomas Buckminster Curtis (1795-1871, d. Paris)
Daniel Sargent Curtis (1825-1908), son and his wife, Ariana Randolph Wormeley Curtis (1833-1922, d. Venice)
Ralph Wormeley Curtis (1854-1922), son
Eliza de Wolf Colt Rotch Curtis, his wife
Sylvia Curtis Steinert (b. 1899), daughter
Present Owner
Literature
Vernon C. Stoneman, A Supplement to John and Thomas Seymour, Cabinetmakers in Boston 1794-1816 (Boston, 1965), no. 49
[author] Collecting American Decorative Arts and Sculpture, 1971-1991 (Boston, 1991), p.38, no.11.
A small group of worktables is known which relate to this worktable (Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufmann Collection (Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1986), p.198), but this particular example may be the touchstone to securely documenting the group to the shop of John or Thomas Seymour. Discovered at the Palazzo Barbarro in Venice, this worktable is the virtual mate to one in the collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, currently displayed in the Oak Hill rooms. While the provenance of the Museum of Fine Arts table is unknown, this worktable has an incredible history that links it to both the Sargent and Derby families of the North Shore and Boston.
The worktable may have been commissioned from the Seymour shop by the Gloucester and Boston merchant, Daniel Sargent for his wife, Mary Osborne Turner Sargent. They had moved to Boston in 1778 and their house on Atkinson (now Congress) Street was destroyed by fire in 1794, the year after John Seymour moved from Portland, Maine to Boston. Daniel rented and then subsequently purchased the Bradlee house, newly built on the corner of Lincoln and Essex Streets. Lucius Manlius, their son, described the new residence and its content: [the house] "was accounted a palace; and my father, who was one of the plainest and most unostentatious of men that ever lived, hired it to gratify my dear mother who was rather more fond of elegant apartments and showy furniture than he." (Charles Sprague Sargent, Epes Sargent, of Gloucester and his Descendants (Boston, 1923) p.136).
The table was transported to Venice in the mid-nineteenth century by Daniel Sargent Curtis and his wife, Ariana Randolph Wormeley Curtis. They purchased the sixty room Palazzo Barbaro on the Grand Canal in Venice where the Curtis' were the leaders of American-Venetian society. Ariana Curtis was the granddaughter of Elizabeth Derby Preble, a niece of Elias Hasket Derby of Salem. She married Ebenezer Preble a merchant of Portland, Maine in 1795, after his first wife had died. Preble's first wife was Mary Derby, Elizabeth Derby's sister (Perley Derby, Genealogy of the Derby Family, Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, Volume III, 1861, pp.166-167). It is possible that the worktable may have descended through the Derby Family as Ariana Wormeley Curtis was the only surviving member of the Preble family.
The worktable is remarkable for the quality of its design and intricate inlay. The use of the unusual Greek key motif inlay border is also noted on a pair of pier tables. The pier tables are believed to have been made for Oak Hill and have a Derby/Landers family provenance. (See both Wendy Cooper, "The Furniture and Furnishings of the Farm at Danvers", Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, (Volume 81, 1983), pp.38-40, and Jonathan Fairbanks, et al., Collecting American Decorative Arts and Sculpture, 1971-1991 (Boston, 1991), pp. 38-39. Although this worktable cannot be documented to the Seymour shop, its mate has a pencil inscription on the upper drawer, 'John', and the design of the pier tables is taken directly from Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet Dictionary (London, 1803). Thomas Seymour's copy of Sheraton's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book survives. However, recent research in Devon, England, on John Seymour's training and career prior to his emigration to Portland, Maine and Boston questions John's actual involvment in cabinetmaking.
[author] Collecting American Decorative Arts and Sculpture, 1971-1991 (Boston, 1991), p.38, no.11.
A small group of worktables is known which relate to this worktable (Flanigan, American Furniture from the Kaufmann Collection (Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1986), p.198), but this particular example may be the touchstone to securely documenting the group to the shop of John or Thomas Seymour. Discovered at the Palazzo Barbarro in Venice, this worktable is the virtual mate to one in the collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, currently displayed in the Oak Hill rooms. While the provenance of the Museum of Fine Arts table is unknown, this worktable has an incredible history that links it to both the Sargent and Derby families of the North Shore and Boston.
The worktable may have been commissioned from the Seymour shop by the Gloucester and Boston merchant, Daniel Sargent for his wife, Mary Osborne Turner Sargent. They had moved to Boston in 1778 and their house on Atkinson (now Congress) Street was destroyed by fire in 1794, the year after John Seymour moved from Portland, Maine to Boston. Daniel rented and then subsequently purchased the Bradlee house, newly built on the corner of Lincoln and Essex Streets. Lucius Manlius, their son, described the new residence and its content: [the house] "was accounted a palace; and my father, who was one of the plainest and most unostentatious of men that ever lived, hired it to gratify my dear mother who was rather more fond of elegant apartments and showy furniture than he." (Charles Sprague Sargent, Epes Sargent, of Gloucester and his Descendants (Boston, 1923) p.136).
The table was transported to Venice in the mid-nineteenth century by Daniel Sargent Curtis and his wife, Ariana Randolph Wormeley Curtis. They purchased the sixty room Palazzo Barbaro on the Grand Canal in Venice where the Curtis' were the leaders of American-Venetian society. Ariana Curtis was the granddaughter of Elizabeth Derby Preble, a niece of Elias Hasket Derby of Salem. She married Ebenezer Preble a merchant of Portland, Maine in 1795, after his first wife had died. Preble's first wife was Mary Derby, Elizabeth Derby's sister (Perley Derby, Genealogy of the Derby Family, Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, Volume III, 1861, pp.166-167). It is possible that the worktable may have descended through the Derby Family as Ariana Wormeley Curtis was the only surviving member of the Preble family.
The worktable is remarkable for the quality of its design and intricate inlay. The use of the unusual Greek key motif inlay border is also noted on a pair of pier tables. The pier tables are believed to have been made for Oak Hill and have a Derby/Landers family provenance. (See both Wendy Cooper, "The Furniture and Furnishings of the Farm at Danvers", Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, (Volume 81, 1983), pp.38-40, and Jonathan Fairbanks, et al., Collecting American Decorative Arts and Sculpture, 1971-1991 (Boston, 1991), pp. 38-39. Although this worktable cannot be documented to the Seymour shop, its mate has a pencil inscription on the upper drawer, 'John', and the design of the pier tables is taken directly from Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet Dictionary (London, 1803). Thomas Seymour's copy of Sheraton's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book survives. However, recent research in Devon, England, on John Seymour's training and career prior to his emigration to Portland, Maine and Boston questions John's actual involvment in cabinetmaking.