Daniel Webster

Thomas Ball

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

During the course of his long career Ball modeled several portraits of the influential statesman, Daniel Webster (1782-1852). In 1853 the sculptor sold the reproduction rights for this statuette to a Boston art dealer, George Ward Nichols for $500. Nichols alone was responsible for decisions regarding appearance, marketing, and the number of casts. He produced numerous replicas in plaster and Parian ware, in addition to casting more than 200 bronze statuettes at Ames Manufacturing Company in Chicopee, Massachusetts. They were offered for sale with variations: with or without drapery over the column or with a “fine” or “ordinary” patina.

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