Presentation vase

New England Glass Company

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Depictions of glasshouses on glassworks are rare. The engraving on this important presentation vase depicts the New England Glass Company with the chimneys of its three furnaces—two for glass and one for lead. The inscription “From / Henry Whitney / to / Thomas Leighton / East Cambridje / August 1843 / A token of grateful remembrance” highlights two notable figures of the New England Glass Company, Henry Whitney and Thomas Leighton. The vase was presented to Leighton on Whitney’s retirement from the firm in 1843.

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