I recently went to the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City with my daughter. She’s studying interior design so we focused on furniture and home decor through the centuries.
Here are some more photos of the wonderful pieces we saw.
I love the different tones of wood on this hutch
A wonderful old Grandfather Clock
Unusual piece with two-toned wood and an odd-shaped base
A lovely desk/dressing table
The beautiful wood pattern on this dining room storage unit
17th or 18th century harpsichord
Chairs are my favorite furniture item. Here are a few from American history
Wood chair with leather seat
Big upholstered wing chair with an odd foldable, two-tiered table next to it
SImple chair with elegant fabric
My favorite chair. Beautiful lines and shapes.
Intricate and delicate wood inlay work
Gorgeous inlaid marble table
The craftsmanship is quite extraordinary Ellin.
Leslie
LikeLiked by 1 person
That was when it was all done by hand. But oddly, there are still a lot of very good — and usually very expensive — carpenters who do amazing work even now. You just need to be ready to pay for art rather than furniture!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Maybe they will get back to that….
LikeLike
Only if we all get a lot richer than we are now! I’d love it, but I’d be afraid to actually sit in it or serve on it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I find that when things are not bumped or banged they haven’t been used very much. Everything I have has been well used. It wouldn’t do to have that fine stuff around. It would break my heart to have done some damage to it. Better left in a museum where I could admire it in pristine condition.
Leslie
LikeLike
A wonderful walk through history – in many ways — more special doing it with Sara.
Nice work, Ellin.
LikeLike
I love good craftsmanship and there is so little around today. You have to go to museums to see the really good examples. My parents left me a few antiques with beautiful wood but nothing on the level of what’s in the Met!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, it’s in the met because it was special even when it was made. I’m sure there was plenty of klutzy furniture around. In fact, I inherited a lot of it and it belonged to family members, so it took me YEARS to get rid of it. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it was beautiful 🙂
LikeLike
it’s to be admired….
LikeLike