Goddess Sarasvati

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The goddess of learning, music and the arts is readily identified by the golden vina she rests on her shoulder and the bundle of palm-leaf books with their wooden covers and colored binding cords that she holds on her knee. As described in the iconographic sources, she has a white complexion and wears a gold-trimmed white sari, sits upon a white lotus that rises from a lotus pond. She rests one foot on her celestial vehicle, the white swan, the other on a white lotus foot-rest. The landscape setting combines lush forest with a palm tree and icy mountain ranges beyond, the latter alluding to Shiva’s abode.

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