Fireback

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Cast iron firebacks served the dual purpose of reflecting the heat of a fire back into a room and protecting vulnerable bricks and plaster on the back wall of a fireplace. Cast with the image of a stone fortress, bristling with cannons and a commanding figure standing atop a rampart, flying a British flag, it also features the date “1703,” possibly the year of its manufacture.

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