Food Box with Striped Decoration and Chinese Figures

Food Box with Striped Decoration and Chinese Figures

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The geometric patterns on the sides of this tiered food box derive from Indian and Southeast Asian textiles introduced to Japan through the global trade networks that linked different parts of Asia with one another and with the West. On the box’s top are three figures whose clothing and setting identify them as Chinese. It is possible that the use of figural imagery was spurred by an awareness of figures depicted on contemporaneous lacquer from China and the Ryūkyū Islands (Okinawa).

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Food Box with Striped Decoration and Chinese FiguresFood Box with Striped Decoration and Chinese FiguresFood Box with Striped Decoration and Chinese FiguresFood Box with Striped Decoration and Chinese FiguresFood Box with Striped Decoration and Chinese Figures

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.