Kimono with Pines and Mist

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

With its stylized, colorful pine trees and gold mist set against a black ground, this kimono demonstrates the legacy and enduring popularity of designs by Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716). Kōrin came from a family of textile artisans and merchants, whose shop, the Kariganeya, was one of the most well-known businesses in Kyoto. His hand-painted garments gained fame in the city during his lifetime, and in the eighteenth century his characteristic, graphic patterns were included in woodblock-printed pattern books and became known as “Kōrin patterns” (Kōrin moyō). The fashion for these decorative motifs—as well as for the so-called Rinpa style they helped inspire—endured well into the twentieth century. Modern formal kimonos like this one are often black but embellished with brightly colored patterns positioned below the waist and concentrated on the front, leaving much of the back undecorated.

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