Screen of Two Dancers (Bugi zu byōbu)

Unidentified

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Against a blank background sprinkled with gold, two female figures move in rhythmic dance poses and gestures with their opened folding fans. Both wear elaborately patterned "small sleeve" kimonos (kosode), in rich colors with flourishes of gold. Screen paintings such as this, often in the format of six-panel folding screens, evidenced the growing popularity of new forms of dance in the Edo period, and an interest in exhibiting the latest trends in women’s fashions. Early examples of this genre appeared in the early seventeenth century, but this example, from perhaps a century later, preserves the format of the earlier works. Such screen paintings also reflected the trend, in hanging-scroll paintings by ukiyo-e artists, of focusing attention on a single figure posed in stylish and elegant attire.

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