Cleveland Museum of Art

Dragon and Tiger

Sesson Shūkei

Date

c. 1546–56

Medium

One of a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink on paper

Culture

Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573) to Momoyama period (1573–1615)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.