Side Chair

Léon Marcotte

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A French émigré with shops in Paris and New York, Léon Marcotte was one of the most sought-after professional decorators and cabinetmakers during the mid-nineteenth century. His Parisian connections attracted wealthy clients eager to decorate in the latest French styles. This chair is part of a suite of furniture owned by John Taylor Johnston. A railroad executive and the first president of The Met, Johnston used the furniture in the music room of his residence at 8 Fifth Avenue. The delicate neoclassical form and ornament reference French Louis XVI–style furniture, and the classical lyre on the backsplat befitted its use in a music room.

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