Work Table

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The lower drawer of this worktable, or sewing table, is a slide with a frame fitted with a silk bag for holding needlework. These small but often beautifully conceived tables were used in parlors, sitting rooms, and bedrooms. In the early nineteenth century, ornamental painting was part of the curriculum of girls’ schools, and the skill frequently extended to the decoration of light-wood tables and boxes. A New England schoolgirl probably executed this example’s painted decoration of classical draped figures, festooned leaves, and entwined vines.

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