Cane couch

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Although referred to by the English as a couch, this one-ended caned seat was a form favored in France and sometimes referred to as a "lit de repose," or daybed. It probably served a dual purpose—as an extra bed at night and extra seating during the day. The seat is softened by a “squab,” or generously stuffed mattress. Cane couches often were accompanied by sets of cane chairs, as in the Wentworth Room. In 1717, a New England man named John Welland noted that his principal room held “a Cane Couch[,] Squab & pillow” along with [an] “Elbow & 6 small cane chairs.”

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