Urn

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This vessel was shaped on a wheel and its green glaze achieved when wood ash melted and fused onto the body during firing. It could have been a medicine jar, but more likely was intended as a cinerary urn, an inexpensive substitute for a gilt-bronze container for ashes. The high rim was designed to hold a straight-sided lid.

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