Dragon and Tiger
c. 1546–56
Sesson Shūkei
Sesson Shūkei (Japanese, c. 1492–c. 1577)
Japanese Art
Dragon and Tiger, c. 1546–56. Sesson Shūkei (Japanese, c. 1492–c. 1577). One of a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink on paper; painting: 157.3 x 339 cm (61 15/16 x 133 7/16 in.); framed: 172.3 x 354 cm (67 13/16 x 139 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1959.136.2 In Chinese cosmology, the tiger's roar is said to produce wind. In Chinese paintings, the tiger is often shown with a dragon, who creates rain clouds. Together, they represent the balancing forces of the universe. Chinese presentations of the theme, often in hanging scroll format, provided the basic composition for the pair of screens to which this one belongs. Although the theme of this painting derives from Chinese philosophy and pictorial culture, Sesson's tiger is likely modeled after Korean prototypes of the Joseon period circulating in Japan.
- Maker/Artist
- Sesson Shūkei
- Classification
- Painting
- Formatted Medium
- One of a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink on paper
- Dimensions
- Painting: 157.3 x 339 cm (61 15/16 x 133 7/16 in.); Framed: 172.3 x 354 cm (67 13/16 x 139 3/8 in.)
- Departments
- Japanese Art
- Accession Number
- 1959.136.2
- Credit Line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Exhibitions
- Japanese Decorative Style, Japanese Ink Painting, Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art, Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Admired from Afar: Masterworks of Japanese Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art, <em>Japanese Ink Paintings from American Collections: The Muromachi period: An exhibition in honor of Shūjirō Shimada</em>. The Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (April 25–June 13, 1976).
- Rights Statement
- CC0
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