Water-Moon Kannon (c. 1500): Art, History and Details

Water-Moon Kannon (c. 1500) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Gakuō Zōkyū (Japanese, active about 1482–1514).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This painting of Kannon, a Buddhist deity of mercy and compassion with many forms. is attributed to Gakuō Zōkyū, a well-known Zen monk who specialized in ink painting. Kannon looks at the moon reflected in the water, a symbol of impermanence, and holds a willow branch and water vase symbolizing healing and purification.

Object facts

• Title: Water-Moon Kannon
• Date: c. 1500
• Creator attribution: Gakuō Zōkyū (Japanese, active about 1482–1514)
• Culture: Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Hanging scroll; ink on paper
• Dimensions: Painting: 104.8 x 44 cm (41 1/4 x 17 5/16 in.); Mounted: 207 x 62.5 cm (81 1/2 x 24 5/8 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1985.110

A detail from the museum

Kannon is a bodhisattva—a being capable of enlightenment, but who delays it in order to help other beings.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1985.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 2 (1986): 26–71.
• Cunningham, Michael R. and others. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.