Mirror of National Costumes of All Nations (Bankoku ishō kagami)

Kobayashi Kiyochika

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

These prints show the Japanese imperial couple surrounded by people in national costumes from around the world, some of which are identified in the red cartouches (from right to left): France, India, Korea, Britain, Japan (Dai Nippon), China, “Arabia,” Africa, America, and Russia. In keeping with the effort to be viewed as a modern leader, the emperor sports a mustache and beard and is dressed in a black field officer’s uniform. The empress, on the other hand, wears traditional court garments and holds a large painted fan.

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