God of Thunder (Raijin)
Medium
six-panel folding screen, ink, color and gold on paper
Dimensions
162.4 × 355.8 cm · image: 150.4 × 343 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
Accession Number
2004.86
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
Such depictions of the God of Thunder originated in Buddhist art. Here, the image was painted on paper covered with gold dust, a technique often found in paintings by Tawaraya Sotatsu or of the Sotatsu school. This gold technique and the "Inen" seal here suggest that the anonymous painter of this screen was probably associated with the Sotatsu workshop. The artist used a prototype borrowed from earlier Japanese narrative painting—rather than mechanically reproducing Sotatsu’s image—and created a...