Tiered Box (Jūbako) with Design of Boats and Plovers

Tiered Box (Jūbako) with Design of Boats and Plovers

Shibata Zeshin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the nineteenth century Shibata Zeshin, who exhibited at several world's fairs, was one of the few Japanese artists known in the West. He is noted both for his use of lacquer as a painting medium and for his innovative melding of techniques and unusual materials in lacquers. The boats here are made of pewter that was roughly finished with lacquer, while the traditional "sprinkled gold" (maki-e) technique defines the sheaves of rice. The combed pattern on the waves illustrates Zeshin's revival of the "blue wave" (seigaiha-nuri) technique, in which lacquer thickened with egg white or clay is placed on a surface and then combed into a pattern with a bamboo brush. Small pieces of pearl shell form the plovers flying over the scene, which has autumnal overtones.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tiered Box (Jūbako) with Design of Boats and PloversTiered Box (Jūbako) with Design of Boats and PloversTiered Box (Jūbako) with Design of Boats and PloversTiered Box (Jūbako) with Design of Boats and PloversTiered Box (Jūbako) with Design of Boats and Plovers

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.