Writes of Passage

The Qianlong Emperor’s southern inspection tour, Scroll Six: Entering Suzhou along the Grand Canal, by Xu Yang, ca 1770, at the Met. Purchased with Dillon Fund, 1988.

徐扬: 大运河至苏州 乾隆南巡图

In 1751, Qianlong (r. 1736-95) made a ceremonial tour of the Yangzi River delta, the cultural and economic heartland of China. Later, he commissioned the court artist Xu Yang to create a set of twelve monumental hand scrolls to document his journey.

This is one of two places I always visit when I go to the Met, to day dream, reflect, or just sit around. The other one is the Egyptian Temple.

The Court was built by 26 workmen and engineers from Suzhou (Soochow) Garden Administration, plus one chef. Below, are Met’s own words:

The Astor Chinese Garden Court, 1981. Modeled on a Ming dynasty (1368

170 E 81st St
New York, NY 10028

A small Italian restaurant near the Met: will return, for a little trouble (changing tables) and definitely for the desserts.

Very good service: one of my friends asked to switch table because of the draft from the door, after we began working on our bread. The new corner table was as cold, anyway.

The food were all decent: my headless brazino was good, the string beans were tender. The filet mignon was ok, not steak house quality. The pasta was huge and the friend said, wasn’t al dente enough – she hand makes her pasta, so you go figure her comment.

The desserts are heaven: cookies, cr

The new train station at the old post office that includes LIRR has cool bathrooms: the three spigots, from L to R are soap dispenser, water and dryer, very convenient. Of course, it has gender neutral restroom too.

The waiting area offers work table and plenty outlets to recharge your phone/laptop. The hall is super clean. Keep it up!

Q line, which is also called the 2nd Avenue and Broadway is the newest subway line in the City, running around between Manhattan and Brooklyn. The 34 St Herald Sq station is a short walk to Penn Station.

A new bathroom at the Met, or renovated All Gender by the Dendur Temple @ the Sackler Wing has five booths. (At new Penn station, it called gender neutral.) As I walked in, a young man came out of one, which was the only one free. I was about to go in, then saw the yellow liquid in the toilet … Hey, dude, don’t you flash afterward?? Guess not… I waited for another one.

Disgusted? No worry, the Temple is a great place to calm down and meditate -:)

Two German made horses at the Met: Aquamanile in the form of a horse, copper alloy, made in Nuremberg: ca 1400, and ca 1400-50.

^{⇐ The Met: A casket, from India: ebony and engraved ivory, tortoiseshell; mirror glass; silver hardware, brass feet and iron lock; ca. 1760-65.}

How did an ancient Asian tradition become something quintessentially British? The fashion for tea drinking in Great Britain started at court in the late seventeenth century and spread among the aristocracy. Tea remained a heavily taxed luxury until a century later, in 1784, when tea duties were slashed from 119 to 12.5 percent, making it affordable to the general public.

Some wonderful tea paraphernalia at the Met:

竹禽图 by Song Dynasty 8th emperor Huizong (徽宗, 1082-1135, r. 1100-26), apparently, was a talented painter. John M. Crawford Jr. Collection, purchase, Douglas Dillon Gift, 1981 at the Met .

Huizong was the eighth emperor of the Song dynasty and the most artistically accomplished of his imperial line. Finches and Bamboo exemplifies the realistic style of flower-and-

胡笳十八拍图 by unknown artist, in early 15th century at the Met. Ex coll.: C.C. Wang Family. Gift of the Dillon Fund, 1973.

Represented here are scenes from the life of Lady Wenji (Cai Yan), who was abducted by a horde of marauding barbarians about A.D. 195 and spent twelve years among the Xiongnu, a Mongol tribe, as wife of their chieftain. She bore him two children before she was finally ransomed and returned to China. The Southern Song emperor Gaozong (r. 1127