Snuffer Stand

Cornelius Kierstede

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Made for Johannes Schuyler (1668–1747), mayor of Albany from 1703 to 1706, and his wife, Elizabeth Statts Wendell (ca. 1659–1737), by the outstanding New York silversmith Cornelius Kierstede, this snuffer stand is decorated with flat-chased chinoiserie ornament of a type popular in England from the 1670s to 1690s. It descended in the Schuyler family, albeit in different branches than the two affiliated candlesticks (57.153a, b and 64.83a, b). Although the chasing on its base is consistent with that on the candlesticks, the remainder of the piece appears to have been altered at some time in its history—a determination confirmed by scientific analysis.

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