Armchair

Duncan Phyfe

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The plush high back with crotch-veneered tablet and sweeping scrolled arms of this sleek, mahogany chair illustrate the Phyfe workshop’s experimentation with variations of French fauteuils. The Phyfes’ inspiration may have emerged from the popular designs by Pierre de la Mésangère in his serial Collection de Meubles et Objets de Goût (1820–1831). The armchair bears resemblance to number 638 "Fauteuil de Salon" in volume one of Meubles…(1802-1807) an number 320 "Fauteuil d’Appartament" in volume one (1810-1812). According to family tradition this armchair, one of a pair, (see 1971.128.2) stood in Duncan Phyfe's house on Fulton Street before descending to his great-granddaughter, Emma Phyfe Purdy (b. 1855), then to subsequent owners.

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