Wintry mountains

Wintry mountains

Gong Xian

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gong Xian, considered the greatest of the seventeenth-century Nanjing painters, built up his high-contrast images through a repetitive layering of ink. Here, he evokes a wintry scene in a mountain village. The accompanying poem celebrates the joys of country life: Farmers, cowherds, fishermen, and woodcutters—where do they make their homes? In huts thatched with yellow reeds among mountains and streams. Work completed, they return together and get drunk, Jugs and cups filled with wine; there is no need for credit. —Translation after Aschwin Lippe

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.