A Diplomatic Mission to the Jin

Yang Bangji

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

After the Jurched Jin conquered northern China in 1127, the Chinese court fled from Kaifeng to the southern city of Hangzhou. To maintain peace on the northern border of their shrunken empire, the Chinese paid annual tributes amounting to 200,000 taels of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk. Although there is no inscription to confirm it, the theme of this scroll may be the Song envoys meeting those of the Jin. Painters under the Jin continued the styles of the Northern Song, albeit with modifications. In contrast to the dramatic scale of the massive peaks in Northern Song painting, the forms here stress surface abstraction; the mountains are softened with green wash and the valleys are laced with mist.

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