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