Rattle, Whistle, and Bells

Richard Van Dyck American
 Peter Van Dyck American

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 704

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.

Rattle, Whistle, and Bells, Richard Van Dyck (1717–1770) or, Silver and coral, American

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Rattle, Whistle, and Bells, Richard Van Dyck (1717–1770) or, Silver and coral, American
Rattle, Whistle, and Bells, Richard Van Dyck (1717–1770) or, Silver and coral, American
Rattle, Whistle, and Bells, Richard Van Dyck (1717–1770) or, Silver and coral, American

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