Orchid Pavilion Gathering; Autumn Harvest Festival

Ike Taiga

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This pair of screens by Ike Taiga, one of Japan’s most prominent literati painters, depicts two Chinese themes: the Orchid Pavilion Gathering on the right screen and, on the left screen, the Autumn Harvest Festival. A Tang-dynasty poem attributed to Wang Jia (born 851) and inscribed above in Taiga’s own calligraphy reads: At the foot of Mount Ohu, the rice and millet are fat. Pigs are in their pens, the chickens in their coops; The door to the house has been left ajar. The Autumn Festival is over, and in the evening Mulberry leaves cast long shadows. from every house tipsy men return, holding each other up. —Trans. adapted from Stephen D. Allee

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