Fifty-Four Scenes from The Tale of Genji
The eleventh-century literary masterpiece The Tale of Genji is set almost entirely in the capital city of Kyoto and its environs. Here, scenes from all fifty-four chapters appear in sequence across two screens—from right to left and top to bottom—in a composition that transcends shifts in time, season, and setting. The convention of “blown-off roofs” (fukinuki yatai) permits views into interiors, most of them aristocratic mansions. Famous sites such as the iconic bridge over the Uji River (at top left of the left-hand screen), south of Kyoto, are easily recognizable. Viewers familiar with the narrative can enjoy the challenge of identifying characters, episodes, and plot points.
The screens were evidently created by a Kano-school painter and at least one assistant; miniature screens seen within the interiors, mostly ink landscapes, betray a hand from around the time of Kano Yasunobu (1613–1685).
The screens were evidently created by a Kano-school painter and at least one assistant; miniature screens seen within the interiors, mostly ink landscapes, betray a hand from around the time of Kano Yasunobu (1613–1685).
Artwork Details
- 源氏物語図屏風
- Title: Fifty-Four Scenes from The Tale of Genji
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: late 17th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, gold, and gold leaf on paper
- Dimensions: Each: 66 15/16 in. × 12 ft. 5 3/16 in. (170 × 379 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.300.37.1, .2
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
More Artwork
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Ogata Kōrin
after 1709
Ogata Kōrin
ca. 1704–9
Japan
early 17th century
Japan
early 17th century
Maruyama Ōkyo 円山応挙
right screen: 1774; left screen: 1793
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