I want to add another reason why I like the Met so much. I don't want to go overboard here, but the truth is that there is so much to see in the museum that I could go back every day for a year and not really "know" the museum. The treasure trove reveals itself time and again on each visit. One of the curators I know suggested that I look at the new section on European decorative arts that is in the entrance hall to the Lehman Gallery which is located straight ahead and all the way back if you enter the museum from the main entrance. It is past that extraordinary reredos and in a room that is triflingly small compared to many of the other galleries in the museum, but oh what wonderful objects--objet de vertu, locks, carved rock crystal, bronze statues (YES!) and so much more. I have visited a number of times now and still get a thrill from that room--it is a great recent addition.
Abutting those galleries are the French furniture period rooms. If the Met has a surfeit of anything, it is French furniture. One of the greatest and more recent donors to the Met, Jayne Wrightsman, was a francophile and gave a vast amount of French furniture to the Met and so there really is a disproportionate amount of it, at least compared to English furniture, on display. That doesn't bother me in the slightest as great objects are great objects and great furniture is always great. If I were to criticize French furniture, it would be to say that the Parisian makers worked to one style, form-wise, allowing their individuality to be revealed in the veneer patterns--marquetry or parquetry--and bronze mounts and eventually steering into lacquer--the re-shaping of lacquer panels from the Far East--and also the use of inset porcelain. English furniture is far more variable in form and is generally more interesting to me, but that does not affect the pleasure I get from French furniture.
Among the greatest spots in the museum, however, is in the American furniture wing where pieces are shown "blown apart", as if they were caught just before assembly--in midair no less--mortise and tenons, dovetails, chair assembly, are all on display. If you walk into the American wing to the left of the building facade and go up the stairs on your left, you will find this section with furniture in glass cases in various states of undress. The very best glass case, in my opinion, shows a chest of drawers waiting to be put together with all the joints cut, but not inserted. What is amazing to see is how hand work is designed to last (when done properly) a far cry from how furniture is made today. Of course, it isn't fair to make such a comparison--society has been in growth mode since the 18th century and more and more product has been needed--isn't it better that an IKEA exists than not? I think it is, but I don't think the Met will ever have a gallery devoted to soft pack furniture--but I could be wrong.
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