Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Portrait-Icon of Murasaki Shikibu (Murasaki Shikibu zu)
Kano Minenobu Japanese
Attributed to Konoe Iehiro Japanese
Not on view
Kano Minenobu depicts Murasaki Shikibu in action, wielding her brush, steadying her paper, and gazing down at her text, seemingly pleased with her work. Her ornate black lacquer desk has bowed legs and touches of gold. Over layers of colorful robes, she wears a pleated apron decorated with the scene of a curving shoreline dotted with pines. The image evokes Suma and Akashi as well as Sumiyoshi, whose shrine and resident deity play a pivotal role in The Tale of Genji. Above the figure, three painted cartouches bear inscriptions referring to Murasaki’s attainment of Buddhist insight concerning the nondualistic nature of phenomena. Commentators suggested this insight enabled her to produce a tale infused with an awareness of life’s impermanence.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
