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Dragon and Tiger
Sesson Shukeic. 1546–56
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
A tiger sits in a bamboo grove whipped with fierce wind, while a dragon claws through clouds above rough waves. Tiger and dragon are Chinese cosmological symbols of the balancing forces in the world, yin (the feminine aspect) and yang (the masculine aspect). The tiger's roar is also said to generate wind, and the dragon clouds. The screens may have originally been meant to express the fluctuating nature of the world as envisioned in the practice of military divination, or forecasting, based on the <em>Yijing</em> (<em>Book of Changes</em>).
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Details
- Title: Dragon and Tiger
- Creator: Sesson Shūkei (Japanese, c. 1492–c. 1577)
- Date Created: c. 1546–56
- Physical Dimensions: Each: 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.)
- Provenance: H. Mitsui; C. Satomi., (Howard Hollis and Co., Cleveland, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1959-present
- Type: Painting
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1959.136
- Medium: Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink on paper
- Fun Fact: This pair of screens is considered the masterpiece of Sesson's body of work, and may have been created for the lord of Odawara in eastern Japan.
- Department: Japanese Art
- Culture: Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573) to Momoyama period (1573–1615)
- Credit Line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Collection: ASIAN - Folding screen
- Accession Number: 1959.136
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