Console Table

John Henry Belter

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

John H. Belter immigrated to New York City from Germany in 1833 and soon became the city's leading cabinetmaker. His work is distinguished by its technical virtuosity and exuberant carving. His furniture epitomizes the mid-nineteenth-century taste for the Rococo Revival style, which was often described as "Modern French."

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