# Dragon and Tiger

**Sesson Shūkei** (ca. 1504–ca. 1589)  
c. 1546–56  
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink on paper  
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.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1959.136. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/1959.136).

## About this work

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 ).

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Sesson Shūkei painted this in about 1546–56, aged about 42. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Folding screen.** Panels joined by paper hinges, so the screen stands by itself in a zigzag. The picture runs across every panel, and screens were often made in pairs.
- **Ink on paper.** Ink made from soot and animal glue, ground with water on an inkstone. A single brush can give a hair-fine line or a broad wash, and nothing can be corrected.

### [Sesson Shūkei](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/sesson-shukei)

ca. 1504–ca. 1589

Sesson was a Zen monk who worked in the provinces of eastern Japan, far from the capital at Kyoto. He admired the ink painter Sesshū and developed a vigorous, highly personal style of monochrome ink painting, marked by windswept landscapes, swirling water and lively figures. His Dragon and Tiger screens show his taste for dramatic movement. He also wrote a short treatise on painting addressed to his pupils.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573) to Momoyama period (1573–1615)
- The artist was about 42
- Real size: about 62 × 133 in (157 × 339 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 24 × 36 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 16th century
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/634.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/634/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/dragon-and-tiger-cma-135592).