Box with pommel scrolls

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The decoration covering the surface of this box is sometimes known as a pommel-scroll design because it resembles the shape of sword’s pommel. A flowering plum tree and crescent moon made of ivory, gold leaf, lacquer, and glass, are inlaid into the interior of the cover. The motif may allude to any number of earlier poems that evoke the shadows of plum blossoms by moonlight in a night filled with their scent.

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