Sarra de Peyster

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sarra de Peyster (1629–1646) and her younger brother Jacques (b. 1630) were born in the Netherlands to Jacques de Peyster and his wife, Catherine. The de Peyster's descendants brought this lavish portrait to America in 1684. Sarra is shown wearing clothing and jewelry befitting her family’s affluence. Coral bracelets such as those on Sarra’s wrists were thought to protect children from enchantment and disease, while her tulip symbolizes ephemeral beauty.

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