Fisherman and family

Zhang Lu

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Images of family life are relatively rare in premodern Chinese painting. This glimpse into the simple existence of a fisherman and his family aboard their small skiff was no doubt romanticized by the painter, whose style suggests a sophisticated artist working in the urban environs of Hangzhou rather than someone painting from observation along a countryside waterway. This painting presents the fisherman and his family as sincere and hardworking, their lives untouched by the vicissitudes of officialdom.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art