Jug

Lambeth Factories

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Save for the owners’ initials and accompanying date, this jug is typical of the functional, minimally decorated wares common in the New World. The tin glaze (essentially a lead glaze with tin oxide to make it opaque) created a water-tight seal, although the lead was prone to leeching when exposed to acidic foods and liquids.

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