Figure of Louis XVI and Benjamin Franklin

Charles-Gabriel Sauvage, called Lemire pere

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This figure group in unglazed porcelain depicts the French king Louis XVI and American statesman Benjamin Franklin commemorating the signing of two treaties between France and the United States in 1778. Inscribed "INDEPENDENCE DE L'AMERIQUE" and "LIBERTE DES MERS", the porcelain celebrates the treaties recognizing American independence and guaranteeing the right to trade between the two nations without British interference. Louis is depicted in ceremonial dress, and Franklin in plain garb exhibits the unpretentious demeanor for which he was much loved by the French.

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