Tilt-Top Table

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The top of this table has been divided into eight alternating scalloped and straight edges from a single board of Caribbean mahogany, measuring over two-feet in diameter—a stylish and accommodating surface on which to serve tea. This example has exceptionally high knees and, on the pillar, an unusually flattened ball with carved leafage on a stippled ground. When not in use, the top is tilted upward and the tripod base can be positioned against a wall, or in the corner of a room.

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