Cabinet

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The ornamentation composed of applied elements and geometric patterns of moldings on the door of this small cabinet achieves a distinctly architectural effect. Several different kinds of wood were employed; originally, they differed in color, adding to the complexity of the scheme. Carving, the other major method of decoration used on seventeenth-century style colonial furniture, adorns the sides of the piece. This is one of four similar cabinets attributed to the tradition of joinery brought to Salem, Massachusetts, by John Symonds, who came to Salem in 1636 from Yarmouth, England. The octagonal sunburst motif on the door was a geometric design favored by the Symonds shops. The center plaque on the door is inscribed with the date [16]79 and the initials of the original owners, probably Ephraim and Mary Herrick of Beverly, Massachusetts. Behind the locked door are ten small drawers of varying sizes meant for the safekeeping of documents and small valuables of all kinds.

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