Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009935Wild Geese
by Kano Sanraku
About the Artwork
Depictions of geese usually appear as ink paintings in Japan during the 1200s. They later show up in the colorful landscapes of illustrated handscrolls. Such early ink renditions of the birds have long been associated with classical Chinese Zen painting and poetry, which was avidly admired and collected in medieval Japan. In these screens the artist portrayed the waterfowl in a pastoral setting without reference to classical or religious themes. Such ordinary subjects were imbued with special meaning in 14th- and 15th-century Japan through associations with continental culture, Zen thought and poetry, and famous Chinese monk-painters whose painting techniques had become revered as visual emblems of Zen principles. The screens here reflect the continuation of that painting tradition in the late 1500s or early 1600s by the head of the most important studio in Kyoto. Sanraku also executed a number of colorful folding screen compositions, but here he pays homage to the style of early Zen painting.
Provenance
?-1987: (Eastern Fine Arts, New York, NY, ?-1987. Sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1987-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1987-present
Exhibition history
The Year in Review for 1987. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-April 17, 1988). Autumn Grasses: Arts of the Momoyama Period (1573-1615). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 4-December 11, 1988).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Kano Sanraku (Japanese, 1559–1635)
- Date
- late 1500s-early 1600s
- Medium
- pair of six-fold screens; ink on paper
- Dimensions
- Overall: 170.2 x 371.8 cm (67 x 146 3/8 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1987.9
More by Kano Sanraku in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009935
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