Oval table

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The dynamic composition of this table results from its splayed legs, scalloped skirt, and well-defined "Spanish" feet. The oval was the preferred shape for tabletops in the early eighteenth century; by midcentury, circular tops had become more popular. Small portable tables had many domestic uses, including the serving of tea.

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