Palace Ladies Bathing Children

Unidentified artist

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Depictions of the daily life of court ladies became a special genre of painting under the influence of the eighth-century painter Zhou Fang and his tenth-century follower Zhou Wenju. Painting in a richly detailed manner in which even the fabric patterns are meticulously described, these two artists had an important influence on the figure style practiced by the Song Painting Academy. This painting closely follows Tang dynasty (618–907) prototypes: the tight group of figures arrayed in an oval and set against a blank background is a typical Tang style composition; the hesitant brushwork, however, suggests that it is a later copy, probably done in the Northern Song period.

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