Crabapple, China rose, and Indian flycatcher

Crabapple, China rose, and Indian flycatcher

Shen Quan

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This sumptuous painting evokes a rebus, or multipart visual pun, that transforms it from a decorative image into one laden with meaning. The two long-tailed birds (shoudai niao 綬帶鳥) symbolize “double longevity” (shuangshou 雙壽), while the rose (yueji 月季) and crabapple (haitang 海棠) stand for “high hall” (gaotang 高堂), a respectful term for one’s parents. Taken together, the pictures encode a wish of “long life for your parents.”

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Crabapple, China rose, and Indian flycatcherCrabapple, China rose, and Indian flycatcherCrabapple, China rose, and Indian flycatcherCrabapple, China rose, and Indian flycatcherCrabapple, China rose, and Indian flycatcher

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.