Chest of drawers

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The sprays and vases of flowers, trees, buildings, figures, dogs, birds, and butterflies on this chest recall print sources that were more typically used by young women as inspiration for floral paintings and fancy embroidery. The female figure under a tree (top drawer) and the male figure holding a pole with a fishing net (second drawer) relate to the “fishing lady” needlework pictures produced in girls’ boarding schools in Boston in the mid-eighteenth century.

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