Quatrain on a Spring Garden

Emperor Lizong

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This verse, written during Lizong's maturity in a charming cursive script for the "noble consort" who inspired it, makes clear that life was not without its pleasures for the aging emperor: Last year I saw a branch scented with a red fragrance; Faintly, I imagined red corollas with little makeup. Today, in the palace garden, such colors abound. Perhaps, without knowing it, I prayed to the god of spring. (Wen C. Fong, trans., in Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th–14th Century [New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art,1992], p. 242)

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