$42,550
Federal Mahogany Inlaid Chamber Chest, attributed to the Seymour Workshop, Boston, c. 1815, the rectangular top with inlaid edge overhangs a case of a single tripart drawer, above six smaller drawers flanking a central cabinet on an arched inlaid skirt terminating on four turned reeded and tapering legs, with similar arched side skirts, the upper drawer includes an oval central reserve in stringing, all drawers are outlined in ebonized inlay, (missing dressing mirror from interior drawer, minor imperfections), ht. 34 1/4, wd. 44 3/4, dp. 19 1/2 in. Provenance: Descended in the family of Kirk Boott (1790-1830), a Boston merchant who in 1822 was appointed the first agent of the Merrimack Company to oversee every aspect of the industrial and community development of Lowell, Massachusetts. He is credited with the economic success of Lowell as an important textile producing city. Boott collected a number of pieces of furniture for his house in Bowdoin Square, Boston. His daughter Francis married William Wells who conducted a school at their home in Cambridge on Brattle Street, at the corner of Fayerweather. Among his pupils were James Russell Lowell and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Their daughter, Francis Boott Wells, married the Reverend William Newell in 1835. They and their children lived in the Brattle Street home with the family furniture. Reverend Newell was the minister of the First Parish Church in Cambridge for forty years. Their daughter married James Moore and the furniture h Read more…
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2001-02-24
