Boy with water buffalo

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Auspicious symbols and visual puns expressing good wishes are recurring themes in Chinese decorative art. A delightful example is this white nephrite sculpture that depicts a small boy gently prodding his companion, a large water buffalo, with a stalk of rice. The ears of rice symbolize a good harvest and rhyme with the Chinese word for “year” (sui), thus implying the wish for “a good harvest year after year” (sui sui nian feng).

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