Vase with Garden Scene

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the eighteenth century, the kilns at Jingdezhen began to use a new material to produce porcelains. Called huashi, or “slippery stone,” in Chinese, this expensive material is termed “soft paste” in Western writing. Its appearance in China may reflect an awareness of European experimentation with different materials to produce porcelain-like clay bodies.

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