Gourd-Shaped Bottle

Gourd-Shaped Bottle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Carried by Daoist Immortals, the calabash gourd that inspired this bottle is said to serve as a special container for the liquor of immortality. Ceramic productions of this shape first become popular in the fourteenth century, a period when Daoism flourished, and then again in the sixteenth as a result of imperial interest in this religious tradition.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.