Creamer

Christian Wiltberger

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This handsome tea and coffee service (1980.503.1--.4), although unmarked, has been attributed to the Philadelphia silversmith Christian Wiltberger on the basis of style. Stately and dignified, with its fluted forms and generous proportions, it represents the fully matured Neoclassical style. The service belonged to Eleanor Parke (Nelly) Custis (1779–1852), granddaughter of Martha Washington, who married George Washington's nephew Lawrence Lewis (1767–1839) on February 22, 1799. Family tradition holds that the service was a gift from General Lafayette and his son, who were close friends of the family. In addition to the matching bands of bright-cut ornament, each piece is engraved with the Lewis crest and with the script monogram "LEPL" for Lawrence and Eleanor Parke Lewis. In place of the customary urn or flame-shaped finial, cast eagles surmount three of the pieces, especially appropriate for America's first family.

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