Furniture Hardware
1820–30
Medium
Gilt brass
Dimensions
Top: H. 11/16 in. (1.7 cm); Diam. 3/4 in. (1.9 cm) Base: 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 in. (3.8 x 3.8 cm)
Classification
Furniture hardware
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Edward Hunting Smith, 1968
Accession Number
Inst.68.8.8
Art Historical Context
This elegant set of gilt brass furniture hardware, created by Henry Kellam Hancock between 1820 and 1830, exemplifies the refined decorative arts of early nineteenth-century America. Designed as a drawer pull or knob, the piece features a delicately proportioned top and square base that would have adorned chests, tables, or cabinets in prosperous households. Its presence in the Metropolitan Museum’s American Wing highlights how such small-scale objects contributed to the neoclassical tastes of the period, blending utility with understated ornament. Gilt brass offered an affordable yet luxurio...
About the Artist
Henry Kellam Hancock · 1816–1851
Henry Kellam Hancock (1788–1854) was a prominent American cabinetmaker based in Boston, Massachusetts, where he contributed significantly to the city's early nineteenth-century furniture trade. Son of Captain Belcher Hancock and Ann "Nancy" Susan Ackers, he entered the profession as a chairmaker around 1816 and transitioned to cabinetmaking by 1826, maintaining workshops on Orange Street from abou...