Odes of the State of Bin

Unidentified artist

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Composed more than 2,500 years ago, Odes of the State of Bin is part of The Book of Odes, one of the Confucian classics. The poem chronicles the annual cycle of activites in the countryside: the unfolding stages of the agricultural and sericultural year; preparation for seasonal changes; domestic activities; sources of nourishment; and requisite ritual acts. This scroll, a work in the baimiao ("plain drawing") style executed in the thirteenth century, uses a continuous narrative format; no text is included. Lacking illustrations to the first two stanzas of the poem, it opens with a scene of picking mulberry leaves for silkworms.

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