The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Monkey

Monkey

possibly 1700s
(1615–1868)
wood
Overall: 55.3 cm (21 3/4 in.)
Dudley P. Allen Fund 1924.350
Location: not on view

Description

Watching monkeys perform was once a popular form of street entertainment in Japan. Monkeys were outfitted with costumes and learned to perform dances and tricks. Monkeys also serve as the messengers of certain kami, or deities, and pairs of clothed monkey sculptures in wood or stone may be found on either side of the entrance of some jinja, or shrines dedicated to kami. This monkey has a jacket and may have once held bells and a fan. Unfortunately, its original identity and purpose have been lost.
  • ?–1924
    Kuroda Takuma 黒田太久馬 [1867–?], Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1924–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Catalogue of the Inaugural Exhibition June 6-September 20, 1916. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916. Reproduced: unpaginated [facing p. 191]; Mentioned: cat. no. 52, p. 196 archive.org
    Sizer, Theodore. "A Note on the Japanese Collection." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 11, no. 9 (November 1924): 174–175, and 187. Reproduced: p. 187 (back cover); Mentioned: pp. 174–175 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Art of the Seaway Nations. Cleveland, OH: East Ohio Gas Co., 1959.
  • Animals in Japanese Art (Japanese art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-December 10, 2023).
    Works of Munakata. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1960).
    Art of the Seaway Nations - Far East. The East Ohio Gas Company Building, Cleveland, OH (1959).
    Japanese Folk Art. The Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM (1957).
    Photography of Japanese Architecture. Akron Art Institute, Akron, OH (1956).
    Friends of Far Eastern Art. Mills College, Oakland, CA (1936).
    Inaugural Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (June 6-September 20, 1916).
  • {{cite web|title=Monkey|url=false|author=|year=possibly 1700s|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1924.350