Horse Pattern (Koma shōbu), from the series Horses

Horse Pattern (Koma shōbu), from the series Horses

Katsushika Hokusai

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This surimono is one of thirty-three prints in a set that was commissioned for the year of the horse in 1822. However, the images are not of horses but are conjured up from words associated with the animal. The print illustrates a fan and a tobacco pouch above a tissue case. The tobacco pouch is made of deerskin dyed with a pattern of horses and dandelions in a technique known as shōbūkawa. Hokusai's intentionally paradoxical signature reads Fusenkyo Iitsu hitsu ("painted by Iitsu in his Nonpainting Studio").

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Horse Pattern (Koma shōbu), from the series HorsesHorse Pattern (Koma shōbu), from the series HorsesHorse Pattern (Koma shōbu), from the series HorsesHorse Pattern (Koma shōbu), from the series HorsesHorse Pattern (Koma shōbu), from the series Horses

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.