Shakyamuni Emerging from the Mountains, with Dragon and Tiger

second quarter 17th century

Not on view

This triptych of scrolls centers on a pivotal moment in the historical Buddha’s personal spiritual development, as he emerges from the wilderness after an extended period of ascetic practice. Emaciated, with an unkempt beard, he is supported by two powerful beasts of heaven and earth commonly seen in Zen Buddhist pictures and spaces. At right a dragon bursts forth from a swirl of murky clouds, while at left a tiger tiptoes out of the shadows of a grove. Kano Sansetsu, a leading painter in Kyoto in the 1630s and 1640s and a central figure in Japan’s most prominent painting school, was devoted to the study of classical Chinese and Japanese pictures. While he was not a monk, his art draws on older Chinese and Japanese Zen images that were familiar to his sophisticated Kyoto audience of Zen priests and their wealthy patrons.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Exhibition History

References

狩野山雪筆　出山釈迦・竜虎図
Title: Shakyamuni Emerging from the Mountains, with Dragon and Tiger
Artist: Kano Sansetsu (Japanese, 1590–1651)
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: second quarter 17th century
Culture: Japan
Medium: Triptych of hanging scrolls; ink on paper
Dimensions: Image (a): 41 3/4 × 15 3/8 in. (106 × 39 cm)
Image (b): 41 11/16 × 15 7/16 in. (105.9 × 39.2 cm)
Image (c): 41 3/4 × 15 3/8 in. (106 × 39.1 cm)
Overall with mounting (each): 76 7/8 × 21 in. (195.3 × 53.3 cm)
Overall with knobs (each): 76 7/8 × 22 3/4 in. (195.3 × 57.8 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchase, Bequest of Mary Stillman Harkness, by exchange, 2023
Object Number: 2023.79a–c
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

By Kano Sansetsu

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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Wang Ziyou Visits Dai Andao (left); A Monk Claps His Hands (right), Kano Sansetsu Japanese, Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and gold paint on paper, Japan — Wang Ziyou Visits Dai Andao (left); A Monk Claps His Hands (right)
Kano Sansetsu
ca. 1636–47

Wang Ziyou Visiting Dai Andao on a Snowy Evening (Ō Shiyū hō Tai Andō zu), Kano Sansetsu Japanese, Two-panel folding screen; ink and gold on paper, Japan — Wang Ziyou Visiting Dai Andao on a Snowy Evening (Ō Shiyū hō Tai Andō zu)
Kano Sansetsu
mid-17th century

Old Plum, Kano Sansetsu Japanese, Four sliding-door panels (fusuma); ink, color, gold, and gold leaf on paper, Japan — Old Plum
Kano Sansetsu
1646

Jizō Bosatsu Playing a Flute, Kano Tan'yū Japanese, Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper, Japan — Jizō Bosatsu Playing a Flute
Kano Tan'yū
mid-17th century

Beauty of the Kanbun Era, Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on paper, Japan — Beauty of the Kanbun Era
Japan
late 17th century

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