Mallard Ducks and Snow-covered Reeds

Mallard Ducks and Snow-covered Reeds

Utagawa Hiroshige

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Interestingly, Hiroshige used this same haikai (seventeen-syllable seasonal poem) on other prints of the same theme. This work has a seal that reads “Tōryō” (藤夌), though the poet’s identity is still unknown. In contrast to the conventional cursive script of the poem’s inscription, here the characters are rendered in kanji that must be read phonetically: 鴨鳴屋　風吹思和無　水廼遠毛 (鴨鳴や　風吹しはむ　水のをも)　 Kamo naku ya kaze fuki-shiwamu mizu no omo A duck quacks— as the wind wrinkles the face of the water. —Trans. John T. Carpenter

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mallard Ducks and Snow-covered ReedsMallard Ducks and Snow-covered ReedsMallard Ducks and Snow-covered ReedsMallard Ducks and Snow-covered ReedsMallard Ducks and Snow-covered Reeds

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.