Flower Baskets and Farmer's Hat

Shibata Zeshin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

An image of two bamboo baskets and a plaited farmer’s hat is brushed in lacquer (urushi) onto silver leaf that has oxidized to a dark gray color. Shibata Zeshin, a master lacquer artist, was also a talented painter who used the difficult technique of urushi-e (lacquer painting), his own invention, in album paintings as well as scrolls and screens in the 1880s.

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