Bench 1862 - 1865

This bench was crafted in the United States, most likely New York, sometime in the mid-19th century by Alexander Roux. Roux was part of a cohort of European-trained cabinet makers who catered to America's burgeoning middle and upper classes. The bench is made to resemble ancient Roman seating, as we can see in the stylized legs that end in hooves. This historicism was typical of the era. It lent an air of old-world refinement to new money. But it also spoke to the young republic's understanding of itself as the inheritor of democratic ideals that stretched back to antiquity. The display of such objects in institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where this bench now resides, has always played a role in the construction of cultural values. The social conditions that gave rise to it, and to the establishment of institutions that consecrate it, are essential to understanding the bench's appeal.