Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Seal of Office Responsible for Crops
Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE)
Not on view
This seal was found at Niya, in far northwestern China. Now in ruins, Niya was once an oasis in the bleak desert, bustling with merchants’ caravans and diplomatic envoys traveling between China and Central and West Asia. It was likely the place for an outpost of the Han government, as well. Although the exact name of the “office responsible for crops” is not recorded, such an office could have been part of a Han military and farming garrison at Niya. Officers concerned with agricultural affairs are mentioned in several documents of the Han and later periods.
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