Gibbons Reaching for the Moon

Cleveland Museum of Art

Gibbons Reaching for the Moon

Kano Tan’yūLinkedCulture matchlcp-5ec56712c010

Date
1600s
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink and light color on silk
Culture
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Japanese Art
Institution
Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID
79586

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

Long-armed gibbons form a chain to reach down from a tree, hoping to touch what they believe is the moon. In fact, the orb remaining beyond their grasp is the full moon’s reflection in the still surface of a pond or lake. The image is a common metaphor for the deluded mind in Buddhist thought. Gibbons do not live in Japan but were known to Japanese painters of the premodern era through paintings brought from China.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line
Gift from the Collection of George Gund III
Provenance
?–2015: George Gund III [1937–2013], bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 2015–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

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