Unknown Artist
A lush landscape provides the setting for a picnic, complete with fruit and beverages in Chinese‑style blue-and-white vessels. Two men sit in conversation, one writing and holding a safina (an oblong format book typically containing poetry), flanked by a man standing on the left and a woman on the right carrying a covered bowl decorated with Chinese designs. The patterned robes, silk sashes, and striped turbans resemble costumes depicted in seventeenth‑century Persian drawings and paintings.
Credit: Rogers Fund, 1903
First quarter 17th century
Stonepaste; polychrome glaze within black wax resist outlines (cuerda seca technique)
89.5 x 155.9 x 6.4 cm
03.9b
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2025
Permanent collection