Looking glass

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Japanning, the use of paint and gilded gesso to imitate the glossy finish on Asian lacquerwork, was a popular method of furniture decoration in colonial Boston. This looking glass, part of a group (40.37.1, .2, .4) of japanned furniture that descended in the Pickman family of Salem, Massachusetts, is an extraordinary survival. The painted decoration on the high chest, dressing table, and looking glass is all by the same hand.

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