Pier Table

Duncan Phyfe

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Designated for the pier wall between two windows, a pier table was considered an integral part of an elegant parlor. The mirror below the tabletop reflected light into the room, amplifying the soft glow of candle and fuel-based light sources. Two similar Phyfe pier tables are known: one, for which there is an 1834 bill of sale, is in the White House; the other, bearing the D. Phyfe & Sons label (1837–1840), was made for Phyfe's daughter Eliza Phyfe Vail (1801–1890). However, neither of those examples have scroll supports placed at a 45 degree angle to the table's top as seen here. The other two documented tables have scroll supports and bases that face straight out. This table carefully follows the design illustrated in Plate 631 of volume three of Pierre de La Mésangère's Collection de Meubles et Objets de Goût.

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