Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Murasaki Shikibu’s Inkstone
Traditionally dated to the Heian period (794–1185)
Not on view
According to legend, Murasaki Shikibu used this very inkstone (suzuri) to create the ink with which she brushed The Tale of Genji. Quite large and made from Chinese purple agate, it is embellished with two incised roundels representing the sun and the moon. Above these are two four-lobed wells for the ink, featuring a carved bull on the right and a carp on the left. The edges and sides of the inkstone are decorated with an engraved foliage design.
By the late Edo period, the inkstone had taken on iconic status and was even depicted in the opening frontispiece of the woodblock-printed A Fraudulent Murasaki’s Rustic Genji illustrated by Utagawa Kunisada.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
