Period Rooms in The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Peck, Amelia, James Parker, William Rieder, Olga Raggio, Mary B. Shepard, Annie-Christine Daskalakis Mathews, Daniëlle O. Kisluk-Grosheide, Wolfram Koeppe, Joan R. Mertens, Alfreda Murck, and Wen C. Fong (1996)

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Description

Superb examples of interior design through the ages are on view in the period rooms at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. From an ancient Roman bedroom excavated near Pompeii to a Louis XVI grand salon from eighteenth-century Paris to the Frank Lloyd Wright Room in the American Wing, these popular exhibition galleries can now be seen for the first time in book form. Thirty-four spectacular installations—some actual rooms taken from historic buildings and some recreations intended to show related works of decorative art in an authentic setting—offer a beautifully photographed grand tour through the history of interiors. From a twelfth-century cloister from the Pyrenees to eighteenth-century French and English parlors and boudoirs to Colonial and early nineteenth-century American dining rooms and libraries, the Metropolitan's collection of period rooms offers a wealth of fine furniture and decorative elements. An introduction by Museum director Philippe de Montebello explains the concept of period rooms at the Museum and how they have been developed, installed, and furnished over the past hundred years. Then, each room is depicted both in color photographs taken especially for this book and in lively narrative descriptions that include fascinating information about the original room from which the Museum's example is derived, the individuals who commissioned and carried out the decoration, and the era that the room represents.

Supplementing the stunning photographs of the rooms are historical photographs and engravings and close-up shots of selected ornaments and pieces of furniture, enabling the reader to see details that are often inaccessible to Museum visitors.

Table of contents

Introduction
Philippe de Montebello

Continental Europe

The Boscoreale Bedroom
The Cuxa Cloister
The Campin Room
The Gubbio Studiolo
The Velez Blanco Patio
The Swiss Room
The Sagredo Bedroom
The Varengeville Room
The Paar Room
The Tesse Room
The Cabris Room
The Crillon Room
The Bordeaux Room

England

The Kirtlington Park Room
The Lansdowne Dining Room
The Croome Court Tapestry Room

America

The Hart Room
The Wentworth Room
The Hewlett Room
The Powel Room
The Van Rensselaer Hall
The Verplanck Room
The Haverhill Room
The Richmond Room
The Baltimore Dining Room
The Shaker Retiring Room
The Greek Revival Parlor
The Rococo Revival Parlor
The Gothic Revival Library
The Renaissance Revival Parlor
The McKim, Mead and White Stair Hall
The Frank Lloyd Wright Room

Near and Far East

The Nur Al-Din Room
The Astor Garden Court and Ming Room

Glossary
Further Reading
Credits
Index

About the authors

Amelia Peck is Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

James Parker is Curator Emeritus of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Olga Raggio, William Rieder, Daniëlle Kisluk-Grosheide, and Wolfram Koeppe of the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Mary B. Shepard of The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Joan Mertens of the Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Annie-Christine Dasklakis Mathews, Alfreda Murck and Wen Fong of the Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Tags

Artists: Adam, Robert (British, 1728–1792) | Lannuier, Charles Honoré (French, 1779–1819, active in the United States) | Phyfe, Duncan (Scottish, 1770–1854) | Wright, Frank Lloyd (American, 1867–1959)

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