Shoe Buckle

Zachariah Brigden

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In addition to vessels for drinking and dining, silversmiths supplied their clients with jewelry and other personal items, such as the shoe buckles depicted in "The American School" by Matthew Pratt (97.29.3). Brigden’s surviving daybooks document his sale of such useful and fashionable accessories.

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