Dish with children playing in a garden

Dish with children playing in a garden

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The theme of children at play, which expresses a wish for the birth of children and the concomitant joys they engender, is a ubiquitous motif in Chinese decorative arts from as early as the tenth century. Some of the figures seen on this dish—for example, the two boys at left, one riding a hobbyhorse and the other holding a lotus leaf—are a stock figural grouping, appearing on art objects until the seventeenth century. The cluster of leafy palms with rocks and the balustrade enclosing a lotus pond are standard features of Chinese garden designs.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dish with children playing in a gardenDish with children playing in a gardenDish with children playing in a gardenDish with children playing in a gardenDish with children playing in a garden

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.