With a great provenance directly descended in the family of Celia Thaxter, who entertained many late 19th century painters, this is a sideboard of Classical elegance. It came out of the Seymour shop, probably the most celebrated Boston maker of the time. It is in superb condition, and was used through the years by the family with care and respect.

Provenance: Celia Thaxter, Kittery Point, Maine. This sideboard is seen in her 1883 watercolor titled Madame Champernowne’s Parlor, in fact showing the parlor at Champernowne farm, her home in Kittery Point (see scan below).

Literature: A related sideboard is illustrated and discussed in the The Furniture Masterworks of John and Thomas Seymour, Robert D. Mussey, Jr., pp.218-219, cat. entry 42 (see scan below). Mussey writes that “after approximately 1804, shaped-front sideboards yielded in the Seymours’ typical offerings to planar versions, the simplest of forms, interrupted in this example only by outset legs. Great appeal here is achieved in part by relieving the potential monotony with subtly curved knee brackets and turned and reeded legs. By their use of crotch mahogany veneers on the doors below and bird’s eye maple veneers on the drawers and flanking upper leg turnings, and upper superstructure is created… the broad ‘frieze’ of maple veneers is carried around to the case sides and rear legs, integrating the whole more completely than on most Boston examples.”