Kali

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This image of Kali, the ferocious slayer of demons, appeared in various versions till as late as the 1920s. This particular image attained iconic status in part because of its wide distribution and use to advertise cigarettes. Part of the text below the deity is as follows: If you care to improve the manufacture of national products, if the welfare of the nation’s poor laborers is your concern, if you have a sense of good and bad, then O Hindu brothers, smoke these Kali cigarettes. (Translated by C. Pinney)

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