Hotei Admiring the Moon

Ikei Shūtoku 惟馨周徳

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This painting depicts Budai, a beloved, semi-historical Buddhist figure known as Hotei in Japan. Although the work was traditionally associated with an artist known as Ikei Shūtoku, purportedly a follower of the celebrated medieval ink painter Sesshū Tōyō, it is believed to have been made in the nineteenth century. This late work entered The Met's collection in 1914 along with nearly two hundred other Japanese and Chinese artworks from the collection of Charles Stewart Smith (1832–1909), a Trustee of the Museum. Smith was primarily a collector of European paintings but also acquired many Japanese and Chinese works of art during the last two decades of his life, after he and his third wife honeymooned in Japan in 1892.

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