Theatrical skirt with peacock feather design

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This skirt from an ensemble (with 30.76.16) features colorful embroidered peacock feathers. Silk flosses in green, yellow, blue, and orange were painstakingly twisted to mimic the feather’s patterns and radiant effects. An exotic bird to the Chinese, the peacock was cherished for its beautiful feathers and is connected with fairies or spirits in Chinese legends. This type of garment is often characterized as an arhat robe (luohanyi), and it is believed that it would have been worn to play the role of a sacred monk in dramas based on Buddhist history. There are many such robes preserved in the Forbidden City in Beijing and elsewhere, and their varied decoration suggests that this form of dress was probably donned by different characters in large-scale court performances.

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