Desk and bookcase

Desk and bookcase

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Among the most impressive forms of American furniture, the desk and bookcase was a symbol of its owner’s mercantile and intellectual achievements. On this example, a carved finial bust of a young woman, likely a literary figure, emerges from the broken-scroll pediment at the top.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.