Gibbons Reaching for the Moon
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink and light color on silk
Dimensions
234 × 35.8 cm · painting: 170 × 33.9 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift from the Collection of George Gund III
Accession Number
2015.478
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
male
About this artwork
Long-armed gibbons form a chain to reach down from a tree, hoping to touch what they believe is the moon. In fact, the orb remaining beyond their grasp is the full moon’s reflection in the still surface of a pond or lake. The image is a common metaphor for the deluded mind in Buddhist thought. Gibbons do not live in Japan but were known to Japanese painters of the premodern era through paintings brought from China.