Rattle, Whistle, and Bells

Rattle, Whistle, and Bells

Richard Van Dyck

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This object functioned as 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 a whistle with coral and bells was included in an eighteenth-century American portrait of "Mrs. Jacob Hurd and Child" (64.114.2). For similar objects in the collection, see 47.70 and 1978.287.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rattle, Whistle, and BellsRattle, Whistle, and BellsRattle, Whistle, and BellsRattle, Whistle, and BellsRattle, Whistle, and Bells

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.