35 x 19 1/4 x 19 in., seat height 18 3/4 in.

Note: This pair of chairs represents a fourth variation of Thomas and John Seymour's curved diamond back chairs. The same style is illustrated in Robert Mussey Jr.'s work, The Furniture Masterworks of John & Thomas Seymour (Salem, Massachusetts: Peabody Essex Museum distributed by University Press of New England, 2003), on pp. 388-9, no. 127. Mussey explains this chair is "the sole example found during [his] study that was designed for full over-the-rail upholstery." 

Sold at Sotheby's New York in 2004, these chairs were from The Collection of Alice and Murray Braunfeld. A single chair, of the same style and attributed to John Seymour, is in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). It is listed as a gift of Mrs. Murray Braunfeld in 2006 (M.2006.51.21). Although it is rare that sets of these chairs remain, given the fragile nature of their construction, it is probable this pair and the single chair at LACMA are related.

Two similar pairs of chairs probably by Thomas and John Seymour sold at Sotheby's New York in Property from the Collection of Dr. Larry McCallister, September 22, 2022, lots 98 and 99.

According to Sotheby's catalog note: "The masterful execution and carefully conceived design of this side chair places it among the most sophisticated examples of scroll-back chairs made in Boston. The exquisite combination of light and dark woods, reeding and carving, and rectangles, quarter ellipses and diamonds results in a tour de force of the Federal aesthetic.

The same overall configuration, wood combination and exceptional craftsmanship is found on chairs attributed to John and Thomas Seymour of Boston, whose furniture epitomizes the height of workmanship in Boston during the Federal period. Several similar sets of seating furniture are known. Once is represented by two settees and a pair of side chairs at Winterthur and a pair of side chairs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, all with out-turning front legs (see Charles Montgomery, American Furniture, The Federal Period, nos. 37-9, pp. 90-2 and Edwin Hipkiss, M. and M. Karolik Collection of Eighteenth-Century American Arts, 1941, no. 116). A chair at Bayou Bend and one at Yale University also with out-turning front legs offer another variation (see David Warren, et al, American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection, 1997, F157, p. 99 and Patricia Kane, 300 Years of American Seating Furniture, 1976, no. 154, p. 174). Additional examples of the form representing two different sets are in the Kaufman Collection and the Henry ford Museum (see J. Michael Flanigan, no. 48, p. 134-5 and Vernon Stoneman, A Supplement to John and Thomas Seymour, Boston, 1965, no. 57).

Another side chair of this type in the Kaufman Collection displays ring-turned reeded tapering legs related to those on this pair of side chairs (see Flanigan, no. 47, p. 132-3). Similar legs appear on an octagonal center table attributed to the Seymours that sold at Sotheby's, Sinking Spring Farms: The Appell Family Collection, January 18, 2003, sale 7867, Lot 1265.

Both in overall good condition with expected nicks and wear. Both with repairs and minor replacements to the back splats. Both with old repairs and replacements to the upper section of the front legs. New corner blocks underneath the seat. Finely carved and structurally sound.

Not withstanding this report or any discussion concerning condition of a lot, all lots are offered and sold "as is" in accordance with our conditions of sale.