Fan with Dragon

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

According to a gazetteer of Beijing written at the end of the Yuan dynasty, the Ministry of Rites would present to the court, on the occasion of the Duanwu Festival (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, now celebrated as the Dragon Boat Festival), tapestry fans with various pictorial subjects, including dragons in clouds. In this example, a dragon emerges from the clouds blowing a flaming pearl into the ocean.

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