California by Hiram Powers

The first work of American art collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art was California by Hiram Powers.  This life-size marble statue was designed after the 1849 Gold Rush, but not completed until 1858, and depicts a nude Native American woman holding a divining rod (to find gold) and standing in front of quartz (the crystal matrix containing gold), while her other hand holds a branch of thorns (the misfortune that struck many prospectors).  Hiram Powers wanted the funding to make a larger version of California, but the California state government declined, and New York tycoon William Backhouse Astor paid for the statue and displayed it in his mansion until 1872.  California now stands in the Met's Charles Engelhard Court.