Vase

William J. Walley

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

William J. Walley was one of Grueby’s many followers in the Northeast. Working in his small pottery in West Sterling, Massachusetts, and inspired by Grueby’s leaf-based designs, Walley turned from historicizing shapes to vessels with richly modeled plant forms that are variations on Grueby’s inventions. Whereas the Boston pottery relied on decorators to apply thin ropes of clay to delineate the leaves, in many instances Walley created designs where the leaves are modeled with greater relief. Here, the bulbous base is encircled by leaves that part to allow the long, thin neck—a sort of stem—to emerge.

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