Harlem Candle Co. Seneca Candle

In celebration of the exhibition, Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room, The Met has partnered with Harlem Candle Co. to present a candle inspired by Seneca Village. This historic settlement of free, Black tenants flourished just a few hundred yards from the Museum's current site before it was destroyed by the City of New York in 1857 to make way for Central Park. Our Seneca candle evokes an alternate reality in which this vibrant community continues to thrive.

Inspired by the sensorial experience of The Met's Afrofuturist period room, the Seneca candle transports you to an exuberant Seneca Village kitchen with top notes of spiced black tea. Wild thyme and crisp cedarleaf—signature scents of Central Park—unfurl on the breeze carried in through an open window. Warming incense, cade, and red clove blend beautifully with resinous birch and vetiver, while powdery concrete—a symbol of modernism—lends a perfectly smooth finish. Rich and complex like the Afrofuturist period room, the SENECA candle invites you to savor the moment while simultaneously keeping an eye toward the future.

Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room is built upon an African philosophy by which the past, present, and future are interconnected. Echoing with sound and story, and furnished with objects in The Met collection, from Bamileke beadwork and 19th-century American ceramics to contemporary art and design commemorating diverse traditions, the Afrofuturist period room presents a speculative home for the descendants of Seneca Village.