Water cooler

Richard Franklin (Polk) Bell

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This highly imaginative water cooler has dolphin handles and a finial in the form of a small boy; similar motifs can be found on other works by the Bell family. The delicate coggled pattern and the applied knobs, or barnacles, give the piece an extraordinary appearance.

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