Whenever I visit the British Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, I always stop in front of a Gothic Windsor armchair, made in about 1760, with a towering, pointed back and stacks of intricate tracery.
Although originally intended for a country house such as Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, I like to imagine it in a Manhattan penthouse, blending into the skyline outside the windows. I’m not the only one who thinks so.
‘A new generation of collectors and audiences is turning to British furniture (and to historic works overall) because of extraordinary craftsmanship, sustainability and the human stories embedded in every piece,’ says Helen Allen, the executive director of The Winter Show, America’s longest-running fair for classic art and design.
Visitors to the Met’s British galleries may now feast their eyes on an intricately decorated china table attributed to Thomas Chippendale.
Whether Walpole’s home or the Waldorf, a Windsor armchair can fit into any space.
This is very much in evidence at the Met’s British Galleries, which were completely renovated in 2020, just before the onset of covid.
Where earlier incarnations of the galleries focused on Georgian furniture, a longtime staple of American collecting, the new presentation of the spaces shows the breadth of British design, from a state bed made for the Court of William III to a Victorian side chair by Edward Welby Pugin, son of Augustus. The emphasis here is on discovery as much as it is on history.
‘One takeaway with English furniture is that you have to see it in person,’ believes Wolf Burchard, the curator of the Met’s new galleries. ‘For example, we are now showing an incredibly beautiful China table attributed to Chippendale, which was sitting in storage and which I only knew from photographs. The moment I laid eyes on it in person, I knew it had to go on view. Now I think it is one of the best pieces we have on display.’
Collectors — and, of course, the dealers who advise them — may take this approach a step further. ‘At The Winter Show, there is a growing emphasis on context and storytelling — placing English furniture within narratives that connect design, history and contemporary life,’ explains Natasha.
‘Exhibitors are increasingly thoughtful about juxtaposition, showing historic pieces alongside modern works to highlight their continued relevance.’
‘In a world of digital saturation and fast production, an 18th-century English chair or cabinet offers something increasingly rare and, frankly, radical'
The resurgence of certain niche collecting fields highlights this hybrid American taste. Patrick Bavasi, who recently opened his own gallery after a decade directing the venerable Hyde Park Antiques, notes a renewed interest in Anglo-Indian and Chinese export furniture. ‘Americans aren’t fussed necessarily with absolute English tradition in terms of the decorative arts,’ he notes. ‘I don’t think we are averse to interpretations on a theme.’
Where does this leave ‘my’ Gothic Windsor chair? Interior designer Bunny Williams and her business partner Elizabeth Lawrence, New York’s arbiters of Anglophile style, put me at ease. They describe a pair of English furniture collectors who recently moved to a modern apartment in town.
‘They had one of the most beautiful walnut secretary desks,’ reveals Bunny, ‘The wood was beautiful, it was period, it was incredible, and moving that into a white room with contemporary paintings — all of a sudden, you noticed it because it wasn’t with other English furniture. It sort of became a piece of sculpture in the room.’
‘It gave it new life,’ Elizabeth adds. Perhaps, that’s what English furniture can achieve today in the USA: a new, if unexpected, life at a time when we are craving authenticity above all.
‘In a world of digital saturation and fast production, an 18th-century English chair or cabinet offers something increasingly rare and, frankly, radical — permanence, provenance and a profound connection to the arc of history,’ considers Helen. ‘When the present feels uncertain, the past becomes a source of meaning, stability, and truth.’
Why not aim for that in a Manhattan penthouse?
This feature originally appeared in the June 17, 2026, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.