Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Sacred Icon of Murasaki Shikibu (Murasaki Shikibu seizō)
Not on view
In this monumental painting of Murasaki Shikibu, the author looks down toward six different scenes from her tale, divided by clouds and distributed along the left and bottom of the composition. Executed in a copper-based pigment, the scenes are difficult to discern (see the diagram for tentative identifications). The images seem to emerge not only from the author’s mind but also from wisps of smoke, perhaps meant to signal incense, rising from a container near the desk. An inscription at the top of the painting is impossible to decipher because of damage, but certain phrases referring to the sacredness of waka poetry suggest how the tenets of Esoteric Buddhism were integrated with Murasaki icons into poetic practice.
This early painting has suffered from long periods of exposure at the temple where it was hung as an object of veneration, but its fragile state seems to enhance its sacred aura.
key to text on image:
Chapter 4, “The Lady of the Evening Faces” (Yūgao)
Chapter 35, “Early Spring Greens: Part 2” (Wakana ge)
Chapter 6, “The Safflower” (Suetsumuhana)
Chapter 8, “A Banquet Celebrating Cherry Blossoms” (Hana no en)
Chapter 19, “A Thin Veil of Clouds” (Usugumo)
Chapter 22, “A Lovely Garland” (Tamakazura)
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