Portiere

Herter Brothers

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Like the firms of George A. Schastey and Louis C. Tiffany, Herter Brothers offered a full range of services, from designing and fabricating furniture and woodwork to door, window, and floor treatments. The squash-blossom pattern impressed into the portiere’s velvet reflects the Japanesque style in vogue from the late 1870s through the 1880s, and the design appears on the lining on several examples of Herter furniture. This portiere, originally one of a pair, would have been suspended on a rod in front of pocket doors to help keep out drafts and to provide decorative interest.

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