Furniture Hardware
1820–30
Medium
Gilt brass
Dimensions
W. 8 3/4 in. (22.2 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.68.8.17
Art Historical Context
This elegant piece of furniture hardware, crafted by Henry Kellam Hancock between 1820 and 1830, exemplifies the refined metalwork of early nineteenth-century America. Made of gilt brass and measuring just under nine inches wide, it likely served as a drawer pull or escutcheon, transforming everyday cabinetry into objects of quiet luxury. Hancock’s work reflects the skilled artisans who supplied the growing American middle and upper classes with decorative fittings inspired by neoclassical tastes. During this period, such hardware played a vital role in Federal and Empire-style furniture, ble...
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...