Procession of Carriages Carrying Booty: Page from a Dispersed Bhagavata Purana Manuscript

Procession of Carriages Carrying Booty: Page from a Dispersed Bhagavata Purana Manuscript

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This scene of recovered booty relates to one of the many battles recounted in the Bhagavata Purana. In this page (from the same manuscript as 1977.450.1), the storytelling elements have given over to patterned foliage populated with carriages bearing chests, guards, and attendants riding camels. The intent is decorative, and no real attempt has been made to relate the figures to one another; it almost recalls the type of repeating pattern found in block-printed textiles.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Procession of Carriages Carrying Booty: Page from a Dispersed Bhagavata Purana ManuscriptProcession of Carriages Carrying Booty: Page from a Dispersed Bhagavata Purana ManuscriptProcession of Carriages Carrying Booty: Page from a Dispersed Bhagavata Purana ManuscriptProcession of Carriages Carrying Booty: Page from a Dispersed Bhagavata Purana ManuscriptProcession of Carriages Carrying Booty: Page from a Dispersed Bhagavata Purana Manuscript

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.