This fall will find an especially large and rich display of new additions to the American art galleries. First among them is a landmark acquisition for the museum: Raphaelle Pealeâs Still Life with Strawberries and Ostrich Egg Cup, painted in Philadelphia in the great age of Enlightenment, 1814. The painting is an armchair adventurerâs virtual tour of the world as the artist and his family saw it from their place in the cultural and scientific center of America, which Philadelphia was at this time. The still life brings together a silver mounted ostrich egg from Africa, a Chinese export porcelain cream pitcher, an Asian celadon bowl, and strawberries hybridized on the Peale familyâs experimental farm.
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