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Gibbons in a Landscape

ca. 1570
Not on view
Japanese Zen monks treasured pictures of gibbons painted by the Chinese monk-painter Muqi (active ca. 1250–80), which Muqi’s colleagues first carried to Japan in the late thirteenth century. By the late fifteenth century, images of the animals in the manner of Muqi had become a favored subject for large-scale painting programs.

In this pair of screens, showing a uniquely Japanese interpretation of Muqi’s style, a chain of gibbons tries to grasp the reflection of the moon in the water below—a futile effort that in Zen signifies the delusions of the unawakened mind. Sesson, a learned and prolific Zen monk-artist, studied a wide array of earlier Chinese ink styles and played a major role in the development of a distinctive Japanese form of Zen-inspired ink painting.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Gibbons in a Landscape
  • Artist: Sesson Shūkei 雪村周継 (ca. 1504–ca. 1589)
  • Period: Muromachi period (1392–1573)
  • Date: ca. 1570
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Pair of six-panel screens; ink on paper
  • Dimensions: Image (each screen): 62 in. x 11 ft. 5 in. (157.5 x 348 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Rogers Fund and The Vincent Astor Foundation, Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation, and Florence and Herbert Irving Gifts, 1992
  • Object Number: 1992.8.1, .2
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

Audio

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8804. Gibbons in a Landscape

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More Artwork

More Artwork
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Gibbon and Bamboo, Sesson Shūkei 雪村周継 Japanese, Hanging scroll; ink on paper, Japan
Gibbon and Bamboo
Sesson Shūkei 雪村周継
16th century
Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons, Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, gold, and gold leaf on paper, Japan
Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons
Japan
late 16th century
Flowers and Grasses of the Four Seasons, Kano Mitsunobu 狩野光信 Japanese, Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, gold paint, and gold leaf on paper, Japan
Flowers and Grasses of the Four Seasons
Kano Mitsunobu 狩野光信
late 16th century
Birds and Flowers of Summer and Autumn, Shikibu Terutada Japanese, Pair of hanging scrolls; ink and color on paper, Japan
Birds and Flowers of Summer and Autumn
Shikibu Terutada
mid-16th century
Musk Cat, Uto Gyoshi Japanese, Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper, Japan
Musk Cat
Uto Gyoshi
mid- to late 16th century

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