Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Book Cabinet (Tansu) for The Tale of Genji with Ishiyamadera Temple Design
Not on view
This portable book cabinet was designed to house a set of the fifty-four volumes of The Tale of Genji, now lost. Its structure is quite unusual, as it opens in the middle, the two halves secured at the back with two butterfly-shaped hinges. Each half contains three drawers, the fronts of which are inscribed with the titles of the volumes that belonged within. The outside of the cabinet is decorated with a landscape of the surroundings of Ishiyamadera and the Seta River area in relief takamaki-e and hiramaki-e with additional cutout gold-foil details. As Ishiyamadera was well known as the place where Murasaki Shikibu wrote Genji, it was an appropriate choice of decoration for the book cabinet.
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