拍品专文
An attribution to the shop of John and Thomas Seymour can be made for this table because of its delicate turned legs and integration of satinwood and mahogany veneers. The combination of several secondary woods, mahogany for the top drawer and cherrywood and chestnut for the lower drawer, Also suggests that the stand is a product of the well-known Seymour shop.
One of the many new furniture forms for women in the early nineteenth century, the introduction of sewing tables reflected changes toward women in the culture of the new republic. In the era of enlightenment as women of social standing had more leisure time to pursue the arts and education there was an emphasis on domesticity and maintaining a pleasant and polite surrounding. This entailed the ability to keep a neat house and furnish it with decorative needlework as well as to keep with routine sewing needs.
Octagonal sewing tables, or 'square tables with canted corners,' were one of the more popular work table forms made for women in Federal Boston and Salem, Massachusetts. Small sundry items such as needles, thimbles, cushions and the like were stored in the compartmented top drawers, and thread, string, yarn and bits of material and works-in- progress were kept either on a shelf or in this instance, in a silk sewing bag. Thomas Sheraton described the bag as a 'pouch' and noted that the 'Table with a bag [is] used by the Ladies to work at, in which bag they deposit their fancy needlework' (Cabinet Dictionary (London, 1803, Reprint, New York, 1970), p. 292, plate 65).
For related tables see Stoneman, John and Thomas Seymour (Boston, 1959), fig. 149; Stoneman, Supplement to John and Thomas Seymour (Boston, 1965), p. 75, no. 50A; Montgomery, American Furniture (New York, 1966), fig. 404; Nutting (New York, 1928), fig. 1177; and a table sold in these Rooms, October 19, 1985, lot 174).
One of the many new furniture forms for women in the early nineteenth century, the introduction of sewing tables reflected changes toward women in the culture of the new republic. In the era of enlightenment as women of social standing had more leisure time to pursue the arts and education there was an emphasis on domesticity and maintaining a pleasant and polite surrounding. This entailed the ability to keep a neat house and furnish it with decorative needlework as well as to keep with routine sewing needs.
Octagonal sewing tables, or 'square tables with canted corners,' were one of the more popular work table forms made for women in Federal Boston and Salem, Massachusetts. Small sundry items such as needles, thimbles, cushions and the like were stored in the compartmented top drawers, and thread, string, yarn and bits of material and works-in- progress were kept either on a shelf or in this instance, in a silk sewing bag. Thomas Sheraton described the bag as a 'pouch' and noted that the 'Table with a bag [is] used by the Ladies to work at, in which bag they deposit their fancy needlework' (Cabinet Dictionary (London, 1803, Reprint, New York, 1970), p. 292, plate 65).
For related tables see Stoneman, John and Thomas Seymour (Boston, 1959), fig. 149; Stoneman, Supplement to John and Thomas Seymour (Boston, 1965), p. 75, no. 50A; Montgomery, American Furniture (New York, 1966), fig. 404; Nutting (New York, 1928), fig. 1177; and a table sold in these Rooms, October 19, 1985, lot 174).