Allegory of Rhetoric

Simeon Skillin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This figure adorned the pediment of a Chippendale-style desk and bookcase when it came to the Museum. Thought to have been made somewhat later than the desk, it is probably the work of two members of a well-known family of Boston ship carvers who executed similar allegorical figures for two chest-on-chests made for the Derby family of Salem. The draped figure is in the Neoclassical style and may symbolize Peace, the caduceus in her left hand replacing what was likely an olive branch.

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