↗Japan, Edo period (1615–1868) · late 1790s
Cherry Blossoms in the Wind
Utagawa Toyokuni
Colour palette
#C0B39A#AB9E86#C8BDA6#948975#B4A78E#C9C4B7
Approximate colour proportions
Estimated from six colour groups in the museum image, including visible paper or borders. Reproduction and lighting affect the result; these are image-area proportions, not pigment measurements.
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund · The Cleveland Museum of Art
Image: public domain (CC0) · Museum record & image source ↗
Ottoman Turkey, Istanbul · mid-1500s
Dragon in foliage with lion and phoenix heads
Attributed to Sahkulu
- Date
- mid-1500s
- Medium
- Ink, gum tempera, and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 17.3 x 40.2 cm (6 13/16 x 15 13/16 in.)
- Country / context
- Turkey
- Movement / tradition
- Middle Eastern and North African arts
- Collection
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Pathway
- Middle Eastern and North African arts ↗
FROM THE MUSEUM
A dragon lunges toward a pearl in the form of a seal inscribed with a verse from the Koran: “And I commit my case unto God” (40:44). In his front claw, the dragon grasps two flowering branches that magically produce a variety of blooms, including a lion that bites the dragon’s neck and a phoenix, who competes for the pearl. Sahkulu was trained by Persian artists, as were many artists of Mughal India during the 1500s. He joined the Ottoman imperial painting atelier in Istanbul in 1526 and became the head in 1545.
Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0A MOMENT TO LOOK
Start with what you can see: shapes, surface, colour and scale. How might the listed materials affect the way this object was made and experienced?
Looking prompt · an invitation to observe, not a historical interpretation.
