Figure of an Eagle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American bald eagle was adopted by the United States Congress for the national seal in 1782. It soon became the most popular of patriotic decorative motifs. This carved-and-gilded eagle, with its wings proudly spread, is posed on a rocklike base. One of the largest of its type, it may have been the work of a carver of ship figureheads; however, it does not appear to have been used as a ship’s ornament or placed on the outside of a building, as it shows no signs of weathering.

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