Looking Glass

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

While the oval shape of this looking glass hints at the Neoclassical style, introduced into the United States by 1790, the frame, featuring a phoenix-like finial, pierced openwork, and carved-and-gilded S-scrolls, indicates the retention of the Rococo aesthetic that was popular prior to the American Revolution.

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