Chandelier

Mitchell, Vance & Co.

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This twelve-light brass chandelier, along with four corresponding two-branch sconces (68.143.6-.7, and .15-.16), originally illuminated the sitting room, or rear parlor, of the mansion built for Jedediah Wilcox at 816 Broad Street in Meriden, Connecticut. Completed in 1870, the house was heralded as one of the state’s grandest residences. Previously outfitted for gas lighting, the fixture has been electrified for use in the Museum. Likely made by Mitchell, Vance and Co., the chandelier incorporates a Néo-Grec decorative vocabulary that features stylized palmettes, fleur-de-lis, and portrait medallions above the gas keys and coordinates with the room's original suite of seating furniture, overmantel mirror, and window cornices (see 68.133.1-.5, .8-10, and 68.134.11).

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