Pink Azalea—Chinese Vase

Pink Azalea—Chinese Vase

William Merritt Chase

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Although Chase executed about 120 still life paintings, only ten were based on flowers. However, vases of flowers occasionally appear in his interior scenes and in his portraits. In this canvas an azalea shrub is depicted in a Chinese export porcelain vase, which is presumably used as a planter. Chase was an avid collector of bric-à-brac, including Asian artifacts. The asymmetrical composition of this painting hints at another important aspect of Chase's orientalism: his willingness to emulate some of the basic design principles of Far Eastern art.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.