Presentation box for a brush
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
This luxurious lacquer box was designed to hold a writing brush from the imperial workshops. The main images on the box are of bats flying over waves. In Chinese, the word for “bat” is pronounced the same as “fortune” (fu). Thus, the bat is an auspicious animal symbolizing good fortune, as opposed to its negative connotations in the West.
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.