Foliated dish with four birds and flowers

Foliated dish with four birds and flowers

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This dish is an excellent example of a small group of carved black lacquers that feature a four-bird motif. In this example, four birds fly amid a dense array of blossoming peonies. This design evolved from a “two-bird” motif that first appeared during the late thirteenth century. Demanding extraordinary carving skills, these vessels create a nearly three-dimensional visual across a basically flat surface. The even more complex design featuring four or five birds, as here, began to appear on lacquers of the fifteenth century.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Foliated dish with four birds and flowersFoliated dish with four birds and flowersFoliated dish with four birds and flowersFoliated dish with four birds and flowersFoliated dish with four birds and flowers

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.