Child's rattle and teether

G.U.

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This object functioned as a toy with a whistle and bells, as a teething device and as an amulet. The silver of the whistle and bells made it precious, while the coral was used for teething and was thought to ward off enchantment and disease. As a token of protection and prosperity whistle and bells were included in an eighteenth-century American portrait of Mrs. Jacob Hurd and child (see 64.114.2), as well as many Northern Renaissance paintings. This rattle may have belonged to the daughter of Duncan Phyfe, the New York cabinetmaker (1768–1854).

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art