Artwork
Lions and Tigers in Peony and Bamboo
Lions and Tigers in Peony and Bamboo is an unspecified painting by the Yōga artist Yamaguchi Sekkei. It dates from 1668 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting depicts lions and tigers situated within a landscape of peonies and bamboo. Created by Yamaguchi Sekkei in 1668, the work presents these powerful animals alongside specific flora. While the visual elements are clearly identified, the provided sources do not elaborate on specific iconographic traditions, symbolic meanings, or what the combination of these subjects represents.
History & Provenance
The painting's provenance is straightforward, with no recorded changes in ownership beyond its acquisition by the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Yamaguchi Sekkei painted Lions and Tigers in Peony and Bamboo in 1668, a work held by the Cleveland Museum of Art. The painting entered the museum's collection in 1972, documented as accession number 1972.10.1. Its creation history is tied to its commission during the Edo period, reflecting the artist's specialization in bird-and-flower subjects. The work remains in Cleveland, Ohio, where it is displayed as part of the museum's permanent collection.
The painting's provenance is straightforward, with no recorded changes in ownership beyond its acquisition by the Cleveland Museum of Art. Its dating to 1668 is confirmed by the museum's catalog records, and it was created in Japan, consistent with the artist's active period.
Lions and Tigers in Peony and Bamboo, a 1668 painting by Yamaguchi Sekkei, is held by the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is identified by the accession number 1972.10.1. The work was made in Japan and entered the museum's collection as part of that institution's holdings. No exhibition history is documented in the available sources.
Overview
Created in 1668 by Yamaguchi Sekkei, a painter active in Japan’s middle Edo period, Lions and Tigers in Peony and Bamboo is a hanging scroll now owned by the Cleveland Museum of Art. The work brings together two predatory mammals with ornamental flora, presenting a dynamic yet composed tableau that reflects the artist’s synthesis of native and foreign visual ideas.
Technique & Style
Sekkei employs bold, decisive outlines and a saturated palette that emphasize the animals’ muscular forms. The brushwork on the clouds and foliage is softer, creating a hazy, almost dreamlike atmosphere. This duality of strong contouring and delicate washes illustrates the artist’s engagement with the yoga (Western-influenced) painting tradition, blending Chinese brush techniques with Japanese aesthetic sensibilities.
Artist & collection
Artist
Yamaguchi Sekkei (Japanese: 山口雪渓) also known as Yamaguchi Sōsetsu (山口宗雪) (1644/48, Kyoto - 22 October 1732, Kyoto) was a Japanese artist of the middle Edo period. He sometimes went under the names Baian (梅庵) or Hakuin (白隠).
