Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain

Emperor Gaozong

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1162, at the age of fifty-five, Gaozong retired from the throne to devote his final years to the arts, especially the study of calligraphy. He began by following the styles of Huang Tingjian (1045–1105) and Mi Fu (1052–1107) but in his later years concen-trated on the works of Wang Xizhi (ca. 303–ca. 361) and other pre-Tang masters whose works he was able to collect and study firsthand. This fan clearly dates after 1162; written in the Wang style, it bears a seal with the name of Gaozong's retirement palace, Virtuous Longevity. The poem, laden with occult and astrological references, reads in part: Dark [. . .] from Heavenly Mountain divides the turbid and the vast. Ministered by the second hexagram, the elixir pours in a liquid jade. As I stand at the north-northeast and the south-southwest gates of the compass, I see the flash of rosy lights, ten thousand feet in the air.

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