William Kerin Constable

Gilbert Stuart

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Born in Dublin, William Kerin Constable (1752–1803) emigrated to America and settled in New York, where he engaged in the international trade that dominated Baltimore’s burgeoning economy. In 1784, he became a founding partner of the firm Constable, Rucke and Company, which outfitted the first American vessel to trade with China and India.

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