Water Buffalo

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ingeniously shaped out of a massive dark green nephrite boulder from the riverbed of Yarkand, in northwestern China, this sculpture weighs more than forty pounds. The cunning naturalistic details, including a whorl of hair on the animal’s forehead, demonstrate the observant eye of a master carver in the eighteenth century.

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