Quail and Millet

Kiyohara Yukinobu

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tranquility pervades this delicate rendition of a traditional subject. Yukinobu, one of the few known female painters of the Edo period, was the daughter of Kusumi Morikage (ca. 1620–1690), a distinguished painter. Like her father, she reworked conventional themes from Muromachi ink painting in a personal manner. Here, the asymmetrical composition and realism recall twelfth-century Chinese academic prototypes of the subject, but Yukinobu’s treatment is distinctive for its delicate hint of domestic harmony in the disposition of the quail and the gently swaying stalks of grain.

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