Wall anchor

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

More elaborate New York Dutch colonial houses were often faced with brick rather than pine clapboards. Wrought-iron wall anchors, such as this example with a fleur-de-lis design, helped secure the exterior wall to the wood posts and beams within.

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