Joseph Downs

Stained Glass by John La Farge

The third quarter of the nineteenth century stands out as a dark era in our national history, overshadowed by the gathering clouds of the Civil War, the devastation of the war itself, and the bitterness that followed it. The taste of the time added its own peculiar gloom in that heyday of the brownstone front and the untouchable parlor dressed in black walnut and haircloth, cast-iron gaselier, and wax fruit. And it was not only creative but destructive. As if to balance the dubious contributions of those years many famous early build-

Recent Additions to the American Wing

Early silver boasts an elegance of material and design that makes it pre-eminent among the colonial arts. The tankard shown here was made in Salem by Benjamin Burt and is inscribed: Richd Derby/John Derby/Jan. i, I763. Gift of Charles K. Davis. The bowl is the work of Adrian Bancker in New York and has this inscription: The present of the Heirs of John Roosevelt Obt Aprl 4th 1750 AE 63 yrs to Christopher Bancker for his Special Services to the Family. Bequest of Emily Burrall Hatton. The teapot was made by Peter Van Dyck in New York about 1710 and bears the arms of the owner, Myndert Schuyler (1672-1755) of Albany. Rogers Fund