Tiger

Gan Ku

Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk

Metropolitan Museum of Art

This striking hanging scroll captures a tiger mid-stride, its muscular body coiled with tension as it prowls across a pale, atmospheric ground. Gan Ku, a master of the Maruyama-Shijo tradition, renders the beast's striped coat with meticulous ink linework and warm ochre washes, balancing fierce realism with decorative elegance. Celebrated as one of Edo-period Japan's foremost painters of tigers, Gan Ku built his reputation on such dramatic animal studies, even though tigers were never native to Japan. Displayed vertically, this scroll brings a bold, almost sculptural presence to any wall, evoking the hushed intensity of a traditional tokonoma alcove.