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8018
Circa 1800-1810
VERY FINE SATINWOOD TAMBOUR PORTABLE DESK ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN AND THOMAS SEYMOUR, WITH PAINTED DECORATION ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN RITTO PENNIMAN
Opening the single drawer at front activates the tambour roll top, revealing two lidded and two open compartments, and allowing the writing slant to hinge open. Brass lion's-mask ring pulls on drawer and at sides of case. Wonderful old dry surface with painted decoration of an alert lion lying in grasses on the lid, colorful seashells amidst greens and flowers on the drawer, a classical motif of a flaming torch, lyres and sheet music on one side the case, a similar motif but with a quiver of arrows, a trumpet and doves on the other side, and a seascape depicting three men hauling in a dory in advance of a storm on the rear panel. Boss ends of the tambour with painted medallions, one depicting an arising phoenix and the other a caduceus and a trident. Desk contains Sally Newhall's workbook, dated September 20, 1805, with her essay on Rome and other lessons inscribed in neat handwriting, as well as a mother-of-pearl gold-tipped fountain pen in a red velvet case, an inkwell, a carved ivory letter opener, pencil sketches of buildings by "H.W.W." dated 1854, and a mostly illegible note written in pencil.
Height 6.5". Width 15". Depth 10".
Condition: Grime removed. Small repair to molding on tambour. Other scattered light scratches and wear, commensurate with age and use, but generally remarkably well preserved. **The letter opener is not available for international delivery.**
The absence of a condition report does not imply an object is free of defects. All items may have normal signs of age and wear commensurate with their age; these issues will likely not be mentioned in the condition report. Please contact Eldred's before the auction with any condition questions. Questions about condition will not be answered after purchase. Condition reports are provided as a courtesy, and we are not responsible for any errors or omissions. Important note on frames: Frames are not guaranteed to be in the same condition as they are in the item photograph. Due to handling and shipping, many frames, especially antique ones, are prone to losses. If you have questions about the condition of a frame, please contact us prior to the auction.
The absence of a condition report does not imply an object is free of defects. All items may have normal signs of age and wear commensurate with their age; these issues will likely not be mentioned in the condition report. Please contact Eldred's before the auction with any condition questions. Questions about condition will not be answered after purchase. Condition reports are provided as a courtesy, and we are not responsible for any errors or omissions. Important note on frames: Frames are not guaranteed to be in the same condition as they are in the item photograph. Due to handling and shipping, many frames, especially antique ones, are prone to losses. If you have questions about the condition of a frame, please contact us prior to the auction.
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Provenance:
David Wheatcroft, Marlboro, Massachusetts.
Marguerite Riordan, Stonington, Connecticut, February 3, 1997.
The Collection of Nancy & Larry Dickson.
Reference:
The painted lion seen here is remarkably similar to one on a fireboard from the Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little Collection, illustrated in Little by Little: Six Decades of Collecting American Decorative Arts by Nina Fletcher Little (N.Y.: E.P. Dutton, Inc., 1984), p. 105, no. 137, and sold at Sotheby's New York, January 29, 1994, Lot #432.
An identical desk with painted decoration is illustrated in Essex County Furniture: Documented Treasures from Local Collections 1660-1860; A Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition June 22 to October 12, 1965 by Dean A. Fales, Jr. (Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1965), no. 52.
Notes:
Nina Fletcher Little posited her fireboard was decorated by Harvey Dresser, circa 1820-1830, who owned the coaching inn in Charlton, Massachusetts, where the fireboard was found. Dean A. Fales, Jr. attributes the decoration on a nearly identical box to this to Hannah Crowninshield of Salem, circa 1814. Marguerite Riordan believed the box to have been decorated at a young women's academy, with some of the work done by a young student and some done by a teacher or master.
John Ritto Penniman (1782-1841) was a decorative painter, portraitist and illustrator around Boston and central Massachusetts from about 1800 to 1830. Beginning at a young age he was apprenticed to a decorative painter in Roxbury, where he is known to have painted a handful of clock faces for Simon and Aaron Willard. After opening his own shop in about 1803, he earned commissions from various clock and furniture makers of the area, including the Seymours. Notably, the M. and M. Karolik Collection of Eighteenth-Century American Arts at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts includes a Thomas Seymour commode with similar painted decoration of shells and leaves as this desk, the work done by Penniman as documented on a circa 1809 receipt. Penniman's diverse career also included teaching at Boston's first art academy and designing the official seal of Boston, but after enjoying years of success, his love of drinking brought on his downfall. He spent the last decade of his life paying off debts and in trouble with the law.
Whether the workmanship here was done by Penniman, a young lady under Penniman's or another master's tutelage, or someone entirely else, it is an unmistakably superb example of Federal Period ornamental painting.
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