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Lions at the Stone Bridge of Mount Tiantai

Soga Shōhaku Japanese
Inscribed by Gazan Nanso Japanese
1779
Not on view
In this fantastical scene at the natural stone bridge on Mount Tiantai, in China’s Zhejiang province, a mother lion throws cubs over the cliff to see which will persevere to succeed in life by climbing back to her. Analogies are often made to artists or teachers testing pupils in similar ways. Mount Tiantai, home to the Tiantai sect of Buddhism, is also a sacred site for Daoist practice. In China as in Japan, mountains were long regarded as intermediary places between heaven and earth, where immortals and humans could meet.

One of the “eccentrics” of Edo painting, Soga Shōhaku often featured exaggerated, restless brushwork as well as outlandish subject matter. This hanging scroll shows Shōhaku at the height of his creativity; he transforms a rarely depicted theme into a work that combines fluid, disciplined brushwork with dramatic composition and bizarre imagery.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 曽我蕭白筆　峨山南宗賛　天台山石橋図
  • Title: Lions at the Stone Bridge of Mount Tiantai
  • Artist: Soga Shōhaku (Japanese, 1730–1781)
  • Artist: Inscribed by Gazan Nanso (Japanese, 1727–1797)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: 1779
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Hanging scroll; ink on silk
  • Dimensions: Image: 44 7/8 × 20 in. (114 × 50.8 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 79 1/8 × 25 3/16 in. (201 × 64 cm)
    Overall with knobs: 79 1/8 × 27 1/2 in. (201 × 69.8 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.300.216
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

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Chinese Scholar Contemplating a Waterfall, Soga Shōhaku Japanese, Two-panel folding screen; ink and gold on paper, Japan
Chinese Scholar Contemplating a Waterfall
Follower of Soga Shōhaku
late18th–early 19th century
Armor (<i>Gusoku</i>), Saotome Ietada Japanese, Iron, lacquer, silk, gilt copper, Japanese
Armor (Gusoku)
Armorer Helmet bowl signed Saotome Ietada
Armorer Breastplate inscribed inside, Myōchin Munesuke
16th and 18th centuries
Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara, Unidentified artist, Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk, Korea
Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara
Unidentified artist
14th century
Eight Views of Ōmi (Ōmi hakkei), Soga Shōhaku Japanese, Six-panel folding screen; ink and paper, Japan
Eight Views of Ōmi (Ōmi hakkei)
Soga Shōhaku
ca. 1762–66
Helmet (<i>Zukinnari Kabuto</i>), Iron, lacquer, Japanese
Helmet (Zukinnari Kabuto)
Japanese
16th century

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