Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang Rivers

Maruyama Ōkyo 円山応挙

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This screen comprises a collage of Japanese poems and sketchlike ink-wash paintings on the theme of the Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang brushed in the style of the famous early seventeenth-century calligrapher and man of letters Shōkadō Shōjō. The sheets of calligraphy with painting are underlaid by Maruyama Ōkyo's autumn suzuki grasses rendered in gold pigment. This work shows how the Chinese Northern Song literati theme of place and political exile was transformed into a Japanese landscape theme of seasonal reference and atmosphere.

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