Elijah Boardman

Ralph Earl

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Itinerant portrait painter Ralph Earl depicted the elegantly dressed dry-goods merchant Elijah Boardman (1760–1823) in his shop in New Milford, Connecticut. An unconventional setting for a full-length portrait, the work offered Boardman an opportunity to display his vast merchandise. An open door on the left reveals the shopkeeper’s textile inventory, including silks, wools, printed cottons, and linens—several of which he imported from India, China, and Europe through English ports. Although not pictured, Boardman also sold luxury goods from the Spanish West Indies, such as sugar, rum, molasses, and indigo, connecting the patrons of his Connecticut shop to the extensive networks of Atlantic trade.

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