Drawer Pull
Unknown Artist
1810–60
Medium
Pressed glass
Dimensions
Diam. 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm)
Classification
Drawer pull
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Harvey Smith, 1983
Accession Number
1983.180.15
Art Historical Context
Nestled in The American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art this unassuming *Drawer Pull* from 1810–60 the ingenuity of early 19th-century American craftsmanship. Crafted from pressed glass by an unknown artist, it measures just 2 1/8 inches in diameter—perfectly sized for adorning furniture drawers in middle-class homes. Donated by Harvey Smith in 1983, this petite object invites us to appreciate the beauty hidden in everyday utility. Pressed glass, the medium here, revolutionized American glassmaking around 1820. Molten glass was poured into intricate metal molds and pressed under high p...