Box for Personal Accessories (Tebako) with Autumn Grasses

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Autumn flowers and grasses, principally chrysanthemums, pampas grass, and bush clover, embellish the lid of this box. Scattered across these plants are five stylized paulownia crests that echo the larger ones adorning the box’s sides. By the late sixteenth century, Kyoto had become the most important center of Japanese lacquer art. It was at this moment that the military leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598) changed the way maki-e (“sprinkled picture”) decoration was used, ordering that it be applied to large furniture, household objects, and other objects not normally worthy of such luxurious treatment. Craftsmen created innovative, bold designs without complicated underdrawings and covered large surfaces in a comparatively short time. This flamboyant style was named Kōdaiji, after the temple in Kyoto dedicated to Hideyoshi and his wife, Nene.

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