Clothes Press

Thomas Affleck

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Clothes presses, common in England, were rarely made in colonial Philadelphia. The design of this one was influenced by plates in Thomas Chippendale’s "Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director" (1754 and 1762 eds.). The doors of the upper section hide twelve drawers; those of the lower section, three sliding trays. The sliding shelf in between was for folding the clothes to be stored inside.

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