Bed

Details of the carving and the string inlay outlining the birch or satinwood veneers link this bed to the workshop of John and Thomas Seymour, who were among Boston’s most gifted furniture makers. The motifs on the painted cornice—gilded bows, arrows, and quivers in the central tablet, and grapes and grape vines on the rounded corners—were often used on beds because of their association with Cupid and fruitful abundance.

This bed descended in the family of Benjamin and Louisa May Goddard and may have been purchased at the time of their marriage in 1793.

John and Thomas Seymour, attributed makers
Boston, Mass., 1795-1805
Mahogany, satinwood veneer, birch, pine

1969.568