Sword Blade

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The gold and silver wire inlays on this blade depict animals moving through a stylized landscape. As in Han painting, naturalistic forms are reduced to quintessential linear expressions that vividly convey a sense of life and motion.

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