

Bedstead, 1810–15
Attributed to Thomas Seymour (American, 1771–1848)
Boston
Mahogany, mahogany veneer, mahoganized maple and white pine, painted and gilded wood
Attributed to Thomas Seymour (American, 1771–1848)
Boston
Mahogany, mahogany veneer, mahoganized maple and white pine, painted and gilded wood
106 3/4 x 58 5/8 x 79 1/2 in. (271.1 x 148.9 x 201.9 cm)
John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1918 (18.110.64)
This magnificent high-post bedstead represents the collaboration of the most talented craftsmen in eastern Massachusetts. The cabinetmaker Thomas Seymour, carver Thomas Whitman (active ca. 1809–27), and decorative painter John Ritto Penniman—all based in Boston—probably produced the bedposts, frame, and cornice. It is believed that the Salem carver Samuel McIntire (1757–1811) later added the gilded flower basket with two nesting doves to the cornice.







