Duncan Family Coat of Arms
ca. 1790
Medium
Silk and metallic thread embroidered on silk ground
Dimensions
Approx. 18 in. (45.7 cm)
Classification
Coat of Arms
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Fenella and Morrie Heckscher, 2003
Accession Number
2003.581
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the elegant world of 18th-century Americanwork with the *Duncan Family Coat of Arms*, crafted Sarah Duncan around 1790. This exquisite piece, measuring approximately 18 inches, exemplifies the refined domestic arts practiced by women in post-Revolutionary America. Embroidered with silk and shimmering metallic threads on a silk ground, it served as a proud emblem of family heritage, blending European heraldic traditions with emerging American identity. In the young United States, coats of arms like this one symbolized lineage, status, and aspiration amid a society distancing itself f...