Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Jar decorated with tiger and pine tree
Not on view
Tigers appear frequently in nineteenth-century Korean art, including ceramics, lacquer, and painting. Although symbolic of strength and fierceness, the animal is often rendered with a humorous, expressive face, as on this blue-and-white jar. Here, a single tiger sits tamely against a spare backdrop with a pine tree— a popular pairing of beast and plant. Late Joseon imagery of this subject matter, on porcelain and in folk painting, often also features a second auspicious animal, the magpie.
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