Diminutive figures set in a towering landscape became a traditional motif in Chinese art. Here, a scholar-gentleman supervises two attendants carrying chrysanthemums, a plant whose late autumn bloom was thought to symbolize a gentleman’s lofty character.
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清晚期 剔紅藝菊圖漆盒
Title:Box with a scholar and chrysanthemums
Period:Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Date:19th century
Culture:China
Medium:Carved red lacquer
Dimensions:H. 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm); W. 5 3/8 in. (13.7 cm); L. 5 3/8 in. (13.7 cm)
Classification:Lacquer
Credit Line:John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1913
Object Number:13.100.146
John C. Ferguson American, until 1913; sold to MMA]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Lacquer: Painted and Carved," 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cinnabar: The Chinese Art of Carved Lacquer," August 6, 2009–February 21, 2010.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Extravagant Display: Chinese Art in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries," December 14, 2010–May 1, 2011.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Introduction to Chinese Lacquer," December 11, 2013–July 6, 2014.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sumptuous: East Asian Lacquer, 14th–20th Century," October 25, 2014–August 9, 2015.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cinnabar: The Chinese Art of Carved Lacquer, 14th to 19th Century," June 15, 2016–October 9, 2017.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Children to Immortals: Figural Representations in Chinese Art," August 9, 2018–January 3, 2021.
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