Amidst a rocky landscape, eleven furry gibbons gambol about, sit in contemplation, and point toward the moon's reflection. Symbols of the underlying unity of all living creatures, gibbons have long been a popular theme for Zen monk-painters. This composition on a pair of folding screens is considered a late work of the Zen monk-artist Sesson Shukei and is painted with his characteristic humor and staccato contrasts of strong black ink combined with pale wash, forming rhythmic patterns that create a unified whole. The last great painter of the Muromachi period, Sesson, along with his contemporaries, exemplified the full assimilation of the Chinese-derived ink painting tradition into a form that was uniquely Japanese.

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