Dish

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Small compositions of birds and trees or flowers are a mainstay of Japanese painting. They often carry seasonal or literary associations. This grouping of birds, a rock, and the Three Friends (a Chinese literati theme) relates to Chinese traditions and symbolism of the plum for forbearance (as it blossoms in early spring), the bamboo for flexible strength, and the pine for venerability but still retains the Japanese lyrical approach to the natural world.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art