Masonic Armchair

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The seat and legs of this example are typical of the best Boston Rococo chairs, but the back is unusual. It is made up of Masonic symbols: fluted columns (referring to King Solomon’s temple), a rusticated arch (arch of heaven), a compass and square (faith and reason), a mason’s level (equality), a serpent swallowing its tail (rebirth), and a trowel (cement of brotherly love). The chair was probably made for the senior warden of an as-yet-unidentified Massachusetts lodge.

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