Provenance
From the family house of Edward Allen (1737-1803), Derby Street, Salem, Massachusetts. At his death, the house and its contents remained the property of his descendants;Thence through the family to Teresa Lovering Merriam (b. May 11, 1880) of Nahant, Massachusetts, who likely inherited the house and its contents from her parents, Frank (1850-1924) and Teresa Beatrice Lovering Merriam (1854-1877). She never married and died without issue;At her death, she left her house and its contents to the family of the present owner.Literature: Mussey, Robert and Christopher Shelton, "John Penniman and the Ornamental Painting Tradition in Federal-Era Boston, "American Furniture 2010, edited by Luke Beckerdite, Hanover and London: The Chipstone Foundation, 2010, Fig. 10, p. 9.Other Notes: Remarkably surviving with most of its original painted decoration intact, this sophisticated card table represents the combined effort of two of Boston's most pre-eminent craftsmen of the Federal era - the cabinetmaker Thomas Seymour (1771-1848) and the decorative painter John Penniman (1782-1841). It is one of the earliest extant examples of its form with a top that rotates around a threaded iron pivot rod to reveal an inner well for cards and game pieces. The Moroccan leather on the upper edges of the rails indicates that it is also the work of one of the immigrant morocco leather tanners that Seymour employed to add elegant enhancements to his furniture. It was made between 1808 and 1812, during a period in which Thomas Seymour made his finest work in collaboration with highly skilled craftsmen. This table appears illustrated in the article "John Penniman and the Ornamental Painting Tradition in Federal-Era Boston," written by Robert Mussey and Christopher Shelton and published in American Furniture 2010 . Mussey and Shelton attribute the table to Thomas Seymour on the basis of its fastidious construction, square shaping of the legs, paneled therm foot design, and distinctive use of kerfed and bent glue blocks on the underside. The painted decoration is attributed to Penniman's shop on the basis of its shared similarities with the only extant piece of his signed work, a pier table inscribed "Painted in M __ 1809 by John P__niman" currently in the collection of the Nichols House Museum in Boston. In 1809, Penniman rented space in Thomas Seymour's warehouse on Common Street. That fact combined with the pier table's distinctive hardware, use of ash as a secondary wood, and construction details attribute it to Thomas Seymour's shop. As seen articulated on the supports of the aforementioned pier table, the present card table displays painted acanthus leaved on the legs perhaps inspired by the "Ornament for a Tablet & Various Leaves" illustrated as pl. 2 in Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet-Makers and Upholsterer's Drawing Book (1802). Penniman painted his acanthus leaves with rounded tips and curl at the ends, in different shades of brown oil glaze applied in multiple layers with short fluid brushstrokes, to create the illusion of shadows and depth. He also used pale or drab gray paint to simulate shadows on the right and below his leafage and panels, to give his work dimension and the illusion of a light source at the upper left. The latter technique is a signature detail found in all of his work. The interior wells of this card table appear to retain remnants of their original dark gray paint - the same shade used for the borders on the rest of the table - beneath the layer of blue paint.This table stems from the same suite of furniture as four painted and gilded birch fancy chairs, one of which bears the stenciled name "Holden." One in the collection of Winterthur Museum is marked "I" on the underside of the chair and on the caned seat frame. It also displays "$6" written in pencil on the inner surface of the rear seat rail. One in a private collection on loan to the New York State Museum is marked "II" and inscribed "Holdens." Israel Sack Inc. formerly owned the aforementioned chairs and two others. They are referenced in Israel Sack, Inc., American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Volume VII: 1818, no. 5011, IX: 2439, no. 5011, X: 2705, no. 6341. One with an upholstered seat is illustrated in a Kinnaman & Ramaeker advertisement in The Magazine Antiques (March 1985): 506.The chairs exhibit virtually identical painted decoration to this table - a stylized shell surrounded by leaves, acanthus leaves on the legs with prominent central veins, roundels, distinctive shadowing in two shades of gray, and use of several shades of brown glaze. The name "Holdens" found on one of these chairs perhaps refers to Joshua Holden (1781-1852), a Boston chair maker and painter. He appears in Boston tax records in 1807 working in partnership with Asa Jones and later worked from 1808 to 1811 as an independent craftsman on Washington Street, close to Thomas Seymour's furniture warehouse. As Thomas Seymour often commissioned other craftsman to make furniture which he later sold, he perhaps had Holden make or decorate this suite of furniture. Given that the painted decoration closely relates to Penniman's oeuvre, the artisan who executed it was clearly familiar with his style and was likely trained or employed by him at one time. This table has the same family history as a bombe chest-on-chest originally owned by Captain Edward Allen (1737-1803), a merchant of Salem, Massachusetts, that sold at Sotheby's, Important Americana, January 23-4, 2009, sale 8512, lot 174. In 1759, he married Ruth (1728-1774), the widow of Israel Gardner and daughter of Gamaliel Hodges, and sister of the wife of Richard Derby. After her death in 1774, he married Margaret Lockart (d. 1808) of North Carolina in 1778. He and his family lived in Salem at a house located at 125 Derby Street, at the corner of Hardy Street, which stands today. He had ten children: Edward (1763-1845), who married Anna Fisk (1770-1826) in 1798; Sarah, who married Stephen Webb in Salem in 1779; Ruth Hodges (1759-1849), who married Thomas Porter of Topsfield in 1785; Alice (b. 1765), who married Captain Josiah Orne (d. 1825) of Salem in 1786; Alexander (1778-1804); John (1779-1814); Sally (d. age 7); Jordan (1781-1797); Nancy (1784-1806); and Betsy (1787-1827). Although not originally owned by Edward Allen, this table came into the family house through one of his descendants. The house and its contents were inherited by Teresa Lovering Merriam (b. 1880) of Nahant, who never married and died without issue in the mid 20th century. At her death, she gifted her house and its contents to the ancestors of the present owner. As one of the children of Frank Merriam (1850-1924) and Teresa Beatrice Lovering Merriam (1854-1877), she presumably inherited the house from her parents.
