Art News

The Carnegie Museum of Art Announces Decorative Arts Acquisitions

artwork: Judy Kensley McKie, (American, b. 1944) - "Monkey Settee", 1994 - Walnut and bronze. - Carnegie Museum of Art, Gift of Deena & Jerome Kaplan © 1994 Judy Kensley McKie. By permission. -  Photo: Tom Little.


PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art acquired major works for its collection of early American glass and contemporary craft and design. Water decanters by Bakewell, Page, and Bakewell The museum acquired two remarkable cut and engraved glass water decanters commissioned as part of a large service by President James Monroe in 1818 and made by renowned Pittsburgh glass firm Bakewell, Page, and Bakewell. Existing objects from Monroe’s service have long eluded scholars and collectors; the last documentation of the objects occurred in 1833, when a dozen glass decanters were sold from the White House. Preserved in private hands for nearly two centuries, these two objects resurfaced in a rural auction in the Mid-Atlantic region in 2010 and are now on view in the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Galleries of decorative arts and design.