Ornament with landscape and figures

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This elaborate sculpture depicts a wooded landscape. Two travelers walk along a mountain path, and a rider journeys to visit a friend living in the small hut on the upper corner. This house in the forest represents an ideal retreat for Confucian scholars wishing to escape the mundane world of official duties. The dense composition and the linear depiction of the figures, drapery, and pine and banana trees relate closely to contemporary woodblock prints, illustrating the exchange of imagery across artistic media.

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