Work table

Lemuel Churchill

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Among the most elegant and sophisticated pieces of furniture produced in Boston in the early nineteenth century, this combined writing and sewing table bears the chalk inscription "Churchill"--presumably the signature of the Boston cabinetmaker Lemuel Churchill. Decoration similar to the beautifully rendered acanthus carving on the lyre is sometimes executed in gold leaf for a trompe-l'oeil effect on other Boston tables.

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