Clock

Dubuc

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

After the War of 1812 imported French clocks in gilt-bronze cases depicting allegorical subjects were marketed extensively in America, especially in New York. The standing figure of Washington is based on John Trumbull's painting "George Washington before the Battle of Trenton" (22.45.9), which was well known in Europe through engravings. The clock is replete with patriotic symbolism, including the seal of the United States and the eulogy under the dial taken from Major General Henry Lee's Funeral Oration on the Death of General Washington (1800).

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