Beschreibung:

Federal Mahogany Carved and Inlaid Lady's Secretary-bookcase, attributed to Thomas Seymour Boston, c. 1807-12, the decorative eglomise painting attributed to John Ritto Penniman the turnings possibly by Henry and/or Thomas Ayling some brasses replaced, (minor imperfections), ht. 76 3/4, wd. 37 1/2, dp. 19 3/4 in. Provenance: John Bryant III (1780-1865), a Boston China Trade Merchant, and his wife Mary Cleveland (Smith) Bryant (1784-1860). Presumably to their son John Bryant IV (1811-1847) and his second wife Mary Ann (Lee) Bryant. To their daughter Julia Bryant (1847-1901), who married Brigadier General Charles Jackson Paine (1833-1916), a railroad magnate and yachtsman, of 87 Mount Vernon Street, on March 26, 1867. To their daughter Georgia Paine Fisher Howland. To her son Charles Paine Fisher. Estate of Charles P. Fisher. Note: The lady's secretary and bookcase was a cultural badge signifying a Boston lady of refinement and education during the Federal period. Mary Cleveland (Smith) Bryant (1784-1860) was such a lady. She had been well-educated as daughter of Rev. John Smith a professor of Ancient and Middle Eastern Languages at Dartmouth College, and was widely read. It was probably purchased around the time of, or a few years after, her marriage in late 1807 to John Bryant III (1780-1865). He was the son of John Bryant II, the Deputy Commissary of Military Stores at the Federal Armory in Springfield. The elegant bookcase provided space for the increasingly affordable books then available to educated Bostonians. It was also designed to provide everything needed for letter writing to her increasingly dispersed family. The year after the couple's marriage on November 25, 1807, Bryant evidently furnished their Boston house, listing twenty-seven payments in his financial Waste Book under the category "House Furniture". These included one for a "Bedstead" on July 5, 1808 to Boston's premier cabinetmaker, Thomas Seymour Under financial pressure in 1808, Bryant shipped out on an adventure in the brig Mandarin for Canton, his first to China. Bryant's voyage and trading proved extremely profitable. After his return in 1809, he formed a partnership with William Sturgis dba Bryant and Sturgis, which eventually became one of Boston's most successful China trade firms. The couple lived initially in a fashionable home in Tremont Place, later on Beacon Street near Charles Street. After his return, Bryant made numerous additional purchases of house furnishings in 1810, including another from Thomas Seymour for $39.00 for unspecified furniture which he recorded on Dec. 27. This payment may have been for the present secretary and bookcase. However, Bryant's several voyages in this period are reflected in sporadic and incomplete entries for household expenses. Other purchases from Seymour and other craftsmen probably went unrecorded. Surviving Bryant family and business records do not include actual bills and receipts. The secretary is one of at least four which employ églomisé (reverse glass) painting in two shades of green with repeating Gothic arches and centering stylized leafage. Details are picked out in fine black lines. This "fancy painted" work can be firmly attributed to John Ritto Penniman based on the very high quality of work, and on at least two of his characteristic techniques - faux-shadowing below and to the right of both leaves and arches which simulate light cast from the upper left; and detailed modeling formed by two or more layers of fine black lines applied at right angles to each other, also simulating depth and shadows. Penniman was a tenant in Thomas Seymour's Boston Furniture Warehouse from at least 1808-1810. The two collaborated numerous times, most commonly for decoratively painted panels featuring flowers, leafage, or sea-shells on work boxes and quartetto, work and card tables. Every aspect of the Bryant family secretary reflects Seymour's habitual attention to detail and precise execution. Mahogany veneer