Window Seat

D. Phyfe & Son

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This architectural window seat is one of four from Millford, the Greek Revival mansion built in 1841 for plantation owner John Laurence Manning in South Carolina. On a visit to New York City, Manning ordered a large set of furniture from cabinetmaker Duncan Phyfe, who provided high-style furnishings to customers around the country. The sleek, curvaceous lines of this window seat exemplify the prevailing Grecian Plain style popular during the 1820s to 1840s. The curved forms and decorative motifs reference ancient Greek art and architecture as well as classical notions of beauty and patriotism, ideals that were widely celebrated as the United States cultivated a national style.

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