Dragon and Tiger

Description

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 Yijing (Book of Changes).

Provenance

H. Mitsui; C. Satomi.; (Howard Hollis and Co., Cleveland, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?-1959); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1959-present (1959-)

Dragon and Tiger

Sesson Shūkei

c. 1546–56

Accession Number

1959.136

Medium

Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink on paper

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.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund