Monk Mending Clothes in the Morning Sun (Chōyō Hotetsuzu)
Unknown Artist
c. 1350
Medium
hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions
168.5 × 47.7 cm · image: 84.3 × 35.2 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1962.163
About this artwork
This painting illustrates the Zen ideal of cultivating one’s spirit through all moments of life, from the mundane to the marvelous. The monk pictured is simply mending his robes, but it is a meditative activity. A “mending clothes” image would typically form a pair with another on the theme of “reading by moonlight.” While the seals on the painting were added at a later date, similar seals appear on other ink figures and bird-and-flower compositions.