Sutra Box (Kyōbako) with Lotus Pond

Sutra Box (Kyōbako) with Lotus Pond

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This box with a shallow drawer was made to hold Buddhist sutras and is decorated with the sacred symbol of Buddhist art: the lotus pond. The style of the leaves, stems, and seed heads in the various stages of the plant’s life is reminiscent of early seventeenth-century designs by Tawaraya Sōtatsu (died ca. 1640). The application of the hiramaki-e (flat “sprinkled picture”) and e-nashiji (“pear-skin picture”) sprinkling represents a later type of the Kōdaiji lacquer style.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sutra Box (Kyōbako) with Lotus PondSutra Box (Kyōbako) with Lotus PondSutra Box (Kyōbako) with Lotus PondSutra Box (Kyōbako) with Lotus PondSutra Box (Kyōbako) with Lotus Pond

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.