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Duncan Phyfe

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pieces of sofa-like furniture with scrolled ends, one higher than the other, were called "Grecian couches" in the early nineteenth century, when they were being made. In 1800 the French artist Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) had painted Mme Récamier reclining on a similar couch; the portrait became so famous that such couches are sometimes called "récamiers" after her. The frame of this example, painted and grained to simulate rosewood, is decorated with freehand gilded designs of eagles, foliate scrolls, and cornucopias, imitative of ormolu mounts.


The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.