Dressing glass

Thomas Seymour

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dressing tables often featured a built-in mirror, either mounted to the back of the piece or incorporated into a drawer. When no mirror was included, a dressing glass such as this one would be placed on top of the table. The elliptical front and book-matched crotch-veneer panels suggest the talents of Boston’s specialty cabinetmaking trade.

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