Noh Costume (Nuihaku) with Phoenixes and Peonies

Noh Costume (Nuihaku) with Phoenixes and Peonies

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nuihaku robes are elegant Noh costumes with very fine embroidery applied on a metal-leaf ground. Mainly used in plays featuring young female protagonists, they are worn around the waist beneath sumptuous outer robes. In the Momoyama (1573–1615) and early Edo periods, before outer robes became lavish garments, nuihaku were the most splendid part of the costume and were themselves used as outer robes. This exquisite example in the “phoenix flying through peonies” pattern is embellished with phoenixes, auspicious symbols of prosperity, fidelity, and good deeds as well as with peonies, the “king of flowers,” representing good fortune and honor. The composition is based on a design created by Maruyama Ōkyo (1733–1795), a prolific Kyoto-based painter whose style incorporated Western naturalism into East Asian painting traditions.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Noh Costume (Nuihaku) with Phoenixes and PeoniesNoh Costume (Nuihaku) with Phoenixes and PeoniesNoh Costume (Nuihaku) with Phoenixes and PeoniesNoh Costume (Nuihaku) with Phoenixes and PeoniesNoh Costume (Nuihaku) with Phoenixes and Peonies

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.