Furniture Cover with Lotus and Dragon Scrolls

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This cover for a seating platform (kang) or a large chair seat has a pattern of floral and dragon scrolls that was carefully designed to appear right side up when viewed from any of its four sides. The graphic quality of the design is achieved through differences in the reflectivity of the two surfaces on the face of the velvet. The background is rendered in cut pile, which tends to absorb light, while the pattern consists of uncut loops, which are more reflective. Fairly common in Chinese velvets, this use of cut and uncut areas to delineate the pattern allowed considerable freedom of design but demanded great skill.

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