Chest

the Searle-Dennis shop tradition

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Chests stored clothes, linens, table coverings, and other household items. The most richly ornamented joined chests produced in North America during the seventeenth century are those attributed to the Ipswich joiners, William Searle (d. 1667) and Thomas Dennis (1638–1706). Both acquired their florid style as apprentices in County Devon, England. Characteristics of the Searle-Dennis school on this chest include S-scrolls on the stiles and lower rail, interlocking lunettes on the top rail, and low-relief carving on the front panels.

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