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 elephant-headed handles
In Edo Japan, archaistic bronze vases from China were not only furnishings for residential settings but also markers of cultural and social status. Once in the collection of the Tokugawa shogunate, this vase was likely displayed in gatherings held by the shogun. The inscription on its original box indicates that the fourth Tokugawa shogun, Ietsuna, appraised the vase as one of his “incomparably amusing interests” in 1665.
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