A Holy Man Seated on a Terrace

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The artist has masterfully used the sparse setting to highlight his subject. The figure is placed against a pale sky of graduated blues, framed on the sides by a marble archway and above by a fabric blind, the hot orange and yellow of which contrast with the pink rug with a softer green border in the lower portion of the page. The white of the holy man's robe seems blinding in its stark whiteness. These deftly handled coloristic effects set the stage for the sensitively observed portrait.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art