Bamboo and Plum

About the Artwork

This painting of a white plum (or prunus) and bamboo was once part of a triptych. A central image of the demon-queller Zhong Kui was flanked by this painting and one of a red plum and bamboo. The paintings would have been suitable to hang after the turn of the new year, when Zhong Kui would drive out evil demons, and the year’s first flowers were in bloom. Sesson hailed from what is now Ibaraki prefecture in northern Honshu. A Zen monk, he spent much of his career in the Kanto region, and developed a distinctive style uninhibited by formal training in the Kano atelier.

Inscriptions

signed: "Sesson"

Provenance

?-2015: George Gund III [1937-2013], ?-2015, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art 2015-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 2015-present

Exhibition history

Ink Paintings and Ash-Glazed Ceramics: Medieval Calligraphy, Painting, and Ceramic Art from Japan and Korea. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 19-May 28, 2000). Reeds and Geese: Japanese Art from the Collection of George Gund III. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 21-September 3, 2017).

Quick Overview

Artist: Sesson Shūkei (Japanese, active 1504-c. 1589)
Date: 1500s
Medium: hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions: Mounted: 198.1 x 60.4 cm (78 x 23 3/4 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: Japanese Art
Credit line: Gift from the Collection of George Gund III
Accession no.: 2015.503

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.