Textile with a Forested Landscape

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

One of the finest surviving examples of its type, this spectacular full-length cloth is composed of a series of stylized but still identifiable interlocking trees that form a densely forested landscape. A number of Indonesian communities prized these textiles, including the Toraja of central highland Sulawesi, who refer to them as Maa’, or cloths of the ancestors. The late fourteenth- to early fifteenth-century date of this piece demonstrates that the trade in Gujarati-painted and printed cotton goods to Indonesian markets was well established long before the Portuguese arrived in India. cat. no. 3b

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