Monteith

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Used to chill wineglasses, these stylized bowls were first brought west from China in the late seventeenth century. After the monteith was filled with cold water, each glass could be hung by its foot from a notch in the monteith’s rim, so that the bowl of every glass was submerged. The English name for the device is said to come from a “fantastical Scot” named Monteigh, who favored a cloak with scalloped edges to attract attention.

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