Bowl with bird

Bowl with bird

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Made in large quantities in Hunan Province in southwest China, small bowls such as this were widely traded, particularly to centers in West Asia. More than 50,000 similar pieces were recently excavated from a shipwreck near Belitung in Indonesia, attesting to the scale of early trade in Chinese ceramics.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bowl with birdBowl with birdBowl with birdBowl with birdBowl with bird

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.