Box with the Poet Narihira

Box with the Poet Narihira

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metal boxes decorated with pearl shell were produced in Kyoto in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries for trade with the Dutch, who had limited access to Japan through the port at Nagasaki. As with this box, which depicts the famed poet Ariwara no Narihira (ca. 825–880) traveling with a young attendant, the imagery often derives from Japanese literature and art and does not reflect the interests of the European audience. Narihira is the hero of the tenth-century Tale of Ise (Ise monogatari), a collection of short narratives and related poems that detail his life and travels. This scene illustrates the eighth chapter, when the poet journeys east in search a new place to live because he has become uncomfortable, for a host of reasons, in the capital, Kyoto.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Box with the Poet NarihiraBox with the Poet NarihiraBox with the Poet NarihiraBox with the Poet NarihiraBox with the Poet Narihira

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.