Fireback

Aetna Furnace

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Founded in 1766, Aetna Furnace was located about nineteen miles east of Philadelphia. Not surprisingly, therefore, the imagery on the front of this fireback relates closely to designs carved into furniture and architecture made in Philadelphia at the same date. The firm took its name from the volcanic mountain in Sicily that the ancient Romans believed to be the abode of Vulcan, smith and metalworker to the gods.

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