Pier table

Joseph B. Barry and Son

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This table combines French and English features to form a highly successful American type. The carved and pierced griffin panel ornament, which is more commonly found rendered in paint on fancy chairs from Philadelphia and Baltimore, is based closely upon Thomas Sheraton's "Ornament for a Frieze or Tablet," published and dated October 1791 in "The Cabinet Maker's and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book." Illustrations from this pattern book also appear on Barry's elaborate trade label, which is affixed to the underside of the top.

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