Zhou Maoshu Admiring Lotuses

Kaihō Yūsetsu

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A bearded scholar props his elbows on the side of his boat and rests his chin in his hands, leaning over to catch a glimpse of lotuses scattered across the surface of a pond. He is recognizable as the Northern Song-dynasty philosopher Zhou Maoshu (Chinese: Zhou Dunyi, 1017–1073). A leading figure in early neo-Confucian thought, Zhou wrote, among other texts, the short essay “On the Love of the Lotus” (“Ai lian shuo”), in which he describes the lotus as a “man of virtue,” in contrast to the “hermitlike” chrysanthemum and the “aristocratic” peony. After the death of his father, Kaihō Yūshō (1533–1615), Yūsetsu operated a shop selling readymade pictures under the name “Chūzaemon.” Later, he received patronage of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third shogun, and reverted to using the family name Kaihō.

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