Head of a Figure (Dogū)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The bulging eyes of this head, which was once attached to a complete dogū clay figure, are characteristic of the Kamegaoka style of Jōmon pottery from the Final Period of Jōmon history. Created in northern Japan’s Tōhoku region, the head was probably ritually removed from the body of the figure to serve a religious purpose. The distinctive eyes of this figure, which crowd out the mouth, nose, and ears, were once thought by scholars to represent a kind of snow goggles common to other communities of the far north, such as the indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Inuit of Canada, but modern scholarship tends to believe that they reflect the Jōmon people’s emphasis on the eyes, which may have a kind of religious significance.

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