Round Box with Chinese-Style Landscape

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The rolling hills, small pavilions, and tripartite division of the landscape shown on the top of this box derive from Chinese painting. The foreground is viewed from above, the middle ground directly, and the background from below. The clear distinctions between the three parts of the landscape specifically parallel the conservative painting traditions favored by the Qing court in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The elegant rendering of the flowers in the cartouches on the sides of the box and the precise geometric designs also reveal an awareness of Chinese art at that time.

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