Murasaki Shikibu’s Inkstone
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.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.
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.
Artwork Details
- 伝紫式部料 古硯
- Title: Murasaki Shikibu’s Inkstone
- Artist: Unidentified
- Period: Traditionally dated to the Heian period (794–1185)
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Purple agate
- Dimensions: Inkstone: 1 3/4 × 10 × 7 1/2 in. (4.5 × 25.4 × 19 cm)
Stand: 1 5/16 × 11 5/8 × 8 7/8 in. (3.4 × 29.5 × 22.5 cm) - Classification: Inkstone
- Credit Line: Lent by Ishiyamadera Temple
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art