Scenes Illustrating Poems from The Tale of Genji (Hakubyō Genji monogatari emaki), Scrolls 3 and 4

Kaoku Gyokuei Japanese
1554
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
These handscrolls are from a set of six illustrating poems from Genji, which represent the pinnacle of ink-line drawing (hakubyō) in the amateur mode. The works exhibit an appealing hallmark of ink-line painting: exuberant, charmingly out-of-scale flowers and grasses, depicted with subtle gradations of ink. The elaborate paintings reflect a level of engagement with the tale found in Genji commentaries from the same period, making the attribution to Kaoku Gyokuei, a female author of commentaries and collections of Genji poetry, likely. The final scroll of the set has a rare dated colophon indicating that it was a copy of an earlier work.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 伝花屋玉栄筆 白描源氏物語絵巻
  • Title: Scenes Illustrating Poems from The Tale of Genji (Hakubyō Genji monogatari emaki), Scrolls 3 and 4
  • Artist: Kaoku Gyokuei (Japanese, born 1526)
  • Period: Muromachi period (1392–1573)
  • Date: 1554
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Two handscrolls from a set of six; ink on paper
  • Dimensions: Scroll III: 3 7/8 in. x 36 ft. 10 15/16 in. (9.8 x 1125.1 cm)
    Scroll IV: 3 7/8 in. x 20 ft. 11 in. (9.8 x 637.6 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Photography
    Collection, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art