One of the finest museums I've ever MET: New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is filled with treasures - Egyptian artifacts, Frank Lloyd Wright designs, Gilded Age-everything and Teapots!

Teapot exhibit in the British Gallery of the Met (my happy place)

New York is filled with many fine museums and, although I've been to several - and some a few times over - in my HMHO,  the ultimate is The Metropolitan Museum of Art, aka "The Met". It has several floors filled with paintings, ancient artifacts, period rooms, Gilded Age everything and, in the BTS world, the ultimate:  a grand teapot exhibit.

When we last visited The Met a few years ago, I headed straight for the American Wing which houses not only portraits of the Gilded Age, but actual rooms and furniture from that era. En route to the Worhsam-Rockefeller Dressing Room (from a home built on New York's West 54th Street in 1850), I admired some of the furnishings from another great Gilded Age titan, William K. Vanderbilt.

William H. Vanderbilt's desk

Rockfeller dressing room 

This summer's visit, accompanied by husband, Chris, our son, Matt, and his partner, Jenna, we hit some of the family's favorites, including the Egyptian Exhibit, the Frank Lloyd Wright room and the British Gallery. The former is where Chris walked like, yes, an Egyptian and the latter is the home to the multitude of teapots on display. 

Chris, in the Egyptian Exhibit, walking like, yes, an Egyptian

According to The Met's website, the museum, a creation of several influential Americans including lawyer John Jay, opened in 1870 at its first Manhattan location. That same year, the museum acquired its first object, a Roman sarcophagus, and added 174 European paintings.

The Met's Egyptian collection is the largest outside of Cairo

After a brief move to another location, The Met finally settled in at its current location on Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street. Since then, both its collections and its structure have expanded. While adding to its vast assortment of paintings and ancient artifacts (its Egyptian collection contains 26,000 objects, the largest assemblage of Egyptian art outside of Cairo), it's added wings and updates. The Beau Arts facade and great hall, unveiled in 1902, were designed by grand architect of the Gilded Age and museum trustee, Richard Morris Hunt. (Biltmore and Marble House were just two of the homes he designed).

Staircase by Stanford White, Gilded Age architect and now featured in HBO's  The Gilded Age

Stanford White, another famous Gilded Age architect and now featured in the HBO series, The Gilded Age, is also represented at The Met.  His firm's work is showcased in the stair hall from the stately Buffalo home of Erzella Stetson Metcalfe.  White was the lead designer and the staircase, with its carved oak and cherry woodwork, per The Met, "reveal his genius for intermingling disparate decorative sources into a coherent whole".  (Just as I suspected!).

Matt and Jenna in the living room designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

However, Gilded Age architects aren't the only ones on display at The Met. Frank Lloyd Wright, a favorite of Matt and Jenna's, also gets his due. Quite different from the ornate and ostentatious designers of the late 19th century, Wright's work emphasized simplicity and natural beauty, embodied in the "Prairie Style". The Frank Lloyd Wright living room at The Met was once part of a Minnesota summer home. As noted by The Met, the windows were a point of contention between architect and client. A compromise was met; a little less intricate leaded glass in the lower panes to allow for better lake views. (I don't think there'd be a wrong answer, only "Wright" ones 😜)

Van Gogh's Cyprus, current exhibit at The Met

And, bonus, a special Van Gogh exhibit was taking place while we were there: Van Gogh's Cyprus. Our second special VG immersion in the span of a year. 

Chippendale tea table in the British Gallery

But, back to that British Exhibit filled with teapots. The assembled items and art span the time between 16th and 20th centuries. There are Chippendale tea tables to be viewed along with Georgian goblets, Wedgwood jasperware and teapots made of silver, pewter and porcelain, in all sizes and shapes. A happy place to be, indeed.

Part of the teapot collection

Jasperware at The Met

So many tea things and references. These fascinating items will be subjects for future blogs. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying a souvenir from this amazing museum:  The Met's own "Taste of British History" tea blend from Harney & Sons. While my husband may be walking like an Egyptian, I'll be drinking like a Brit while remembering my delightful visit to The Met.