A visit to the Met

We visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art last week. The main purpose of the visit was to see the terra cotta warrior statues from China. That was a fabulous exhibit, but I was surprised to see many things in the exhibit besides the famous warriors, such as little statues of dancers:

 (206 BC - 9 AD)

and silk embroidered textiles: 

(2nd c. BC)

these were very difficult to photograph due to the lighting conditions

One of my favorite things was this pair of 2nd century BC silk mittens: 

And then there was this cosmetics pouch from Niya, an ancient oasis town along the Silk Road:

 (25-220 AD)

They found a bronze mirror inside it.

Keeping with the Chinese theme, we also visited an exhibit of Chinese story scrolls. This one was painted in the 13th century:

 The poem that accompanies this picture says:

In the eigth month they twist the thread,

the black thread and yellow.

"With my red dye so bright

I make a robe for my lord."

And finally, we visited an exhibit of 19th century embroidered Chinese theatre robes. Here is a detail of one of my favorites: