Pair of side chairs

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The design for this oval-back chair was based on an engraving in George Hepplewhite’s “Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide” (1788). Other chairs thought to be from this set of twenty-four also have an oval back but are painted white instead of blackish brown.

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