
Sofa
Samuel McIntire
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
A carved eagle, symbol of the new republic, holding a festoon of drapery in its beak ornaments the top rail. The sofa's overall square form, turned arm supports, and crest-rail shape derive from plate 35 of Thomas Sheraton's "The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book" (1793). Along with George Hepplewhite's equally popular pattern book "The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide" (1788), Sheraton's volume was a principal vehicle in disseminating the English Neoclassical style to American cabinetmakers and their patrons.
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.