Mantel

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Imported marble mantels, such as this example once owned by the Hewitt family of New York, were installed in the parlors of some of the most fashionable homes in the city. In 1816 the New Yorker William Bayard, who was furnishing his house and those of two daughters, received a letter from his agent in Livorno, Italy, offering "very handsome Sculpture in alabaster of figures and roses for ornements [sic] for Chimney Pieces if you [would] like to have any."

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