Jinshan Island and West Lake

Kano Sanraku

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Though united visually by an ink landscape of rugged mountains and islands among expanses of water and mists rendered in gold wash, this pair of screens depicts two wholly separate scenic locales in eastern China. At right is Jinshan, an island located in the middle of the Yangzi River near the town of Zhenjiang in southern Jiangsu province. The island’s many bridges, walkways, and paths are traversed by people from all walks of life—scholars, fisherman, and servants, among others—perhaps on their way to one of the temple halls scattered across the rugged terrain. The left screen meanwhile is a portrayal of West Lake, a storied site 150 miles south in the city of Hangzhou, whose city walls and gate can be seen in the lower-left foreground. Sanraku also incorporates into the landscape several of the Ten Views of West Lake, a set of poetic themes that first came into vogue in China during the twelfth century. A student and adopted son of Momoyama-period master Kano Eitoku (1543–1590), Sanraku produced paintings for interiors of castles and temples, including other works depicting West Lake. Here rock formations display the crystalline, geometric quality that appears in much of his late work.

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