Tankard

Gerrit Onckelbag

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1698, Giles Shelley (1664–1710), a New York City merchant and sea captain, sailed in command of the ship Nassau for Madagascar, a favorite haunt of Captain Kidd and his pirates. Shelley returned to New York with a vast amount of treasure but, suspected of complicity with Kidd, he was arrested on a charge of piracy. He was later released and lived for many years, a wealthy and respected merchant. This tankard was probably presented to Shelley by the merchants who financed his enterprise. The handsomely engraved coat of arms is that of the Shelley family, and the scene on the cover depicts a thirty-two-gun ship, possibly the Nassau.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art