Armchair

John and Joseph W. Meeks

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gothic Revival furniture is characterized by the reinterpretation and novel application of elements of Gothic building design to furniture and decorative objects. This boldly ornamented chair features an architecturally inspired pointed arch and a tracery back with a central rose-window design. The rose-window back is particularly striking: an architectural element executed in glass during the Gothic period (12th–15th century) is here recreated in intricately carved wood. The spiral turned legs and posts are based on Elizabethan motifs, then experiencing a revival as well.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art