Seated Baku (Mythical Creature Devouring Nightmares)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The baku is a mythical creature known to devour dreams and nightmares. It has the trunk of an elephant, the tail of an ox and the paws of a tiger .This piece is among the finest netsuke in the collection. Its surface is covered with slightly rounded protuberances, found on eighteenth-century representations of supernatural animals.

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