Easy chair

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

An easy chair was the product of two different craftsmen. The chair maker built the wood armature that determined the chair’s basic outline, while the upholsterer determined its ultimate shape. Although the C-scroll arms are typical of Philadelphia work, this chair was produced in New York City. The secondary woods are common in New York–made furniture, as are the square rear legs and the method of joining the seat rails to the front legs. In addition, the claw-and-ball feet, distinguished by a squashed ball with narrow, downward-sloping talons, are distinctively New York.

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