On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Vase with the Pole Star deity (Kui Xing)
Featured on this cylindrical vase is the Kui Star, a popular deity associated with the Lord of Literature, standing on the head of a fish that is turning into a dragon. The fish, a carp, symbolizes a scholar trying to pass the civil-service examinations to earn an official appointment. It changes into a dragon after leaping through the Dragon Gate, just as a scholar is transformed after passing the examinations. The Kui Star, who oversees the conferring of degrees, is depicted riding through the waves with a writing brush in his right hand and a bushel in his left.
