ticketsMember | Make a donation

Canterbury [sheet music storage rack]

ca. 1840
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 774
One can imagine this canterbury brimming with sheet music—perhaps for opera, classical, or popular tunes—set beside a piano, or neatly stowed underneath, awaiting the next recital. Its design closely follows figure 1966, a music book stand of "an elegant but rather expensive construction," from John Claudius Loudon’s Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture (1833). This canterbury once adorned the home of Eliza Phyfe Vail (1801-1890), whose father and brothers operated the furniture manufactory where it, and other suites of furniture for her home, was made.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Canterbury [sheet music storage rack]
  • Maker: Duncan Phyfe & Sons (1837–1840, active New York)
  • Date: ca. 1840
  • Geography: Made in New York, New York, United States
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Mahogany, mahogany veneer, white pine, and poplar
  • Dimensions: 20 1/2 × 18 3/4 × 13 3/4 in. (52.1 × 47.6 × 34.9 cm)
  • Credit Line: Friends of the American Wing Fund, 2017
  • Object Number: 2017.76
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Piano Stool
Duncan Phyfe & Sons
1830–40
Card table, Charles-Honoré Lannuier American, Mahogany veneer, white pine, yellow poplar, gilded gesso, vert antique, and gilded brass, American
Card table
Charles-Honoré Lannuier
1817
Couch, Duncan Phyfe American, born Scotland, Mahogany, mahogany veneer, pine, ash, modern upholstery, American
Couch
Duncan Phyfe
Duncan Phyfe & Sons
ca. 1837
Card table, Charles-Honoré Lannuier American, Mahogany, mahogany veneer, gilded brass with<br/>white pine, mahogany, American
Card table
Charles-Honoré Lannuier
1805–12
Pier table, Charles-Honoré Lannuier American, Rosewood veneer, gilded gesso, brass, white metal, marble, glass with mahogany, ash, white pine, yellow poplar, American
Pier table
Charles-Honoré Lannuier
1815–19

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.