Desk and bookcase

Desk and bookcase

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

According to late-nineteenth-century tradition, this desk was in George Washington’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the Siege of Boston (April 1775–March 1776). Consequently, it was exhibited at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago as “Washington’s desk.” It is the only known piece of American furniture to combine the bombé and blockfront forms. A later collector replaced the original mirror-glass doors in the upper section with wood panels.

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.