Scenes from the Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari)

Description

In about 1100, the court lady Murasaki Shikibu wrote what became the most celebrated narrative in Japan, The Tale of Genji, describing court life in the Heian period (794–1184). This screen depicts nine scenes from different chapters of the tale. The order of the scenes, viewed from top to bottom and from right to left on each panel, diverges from the actual narrative sequence. The viewer, therefore, must depend on particular objects to identify the depicted chapters. The tray of fall leaves carried by an attendant in the upper right corner, the insect cage set out by young girls in the center of panel four, and the cat running out from beneath a blind in the upper left corner all signal familiar episodes from the tale.

Artists began depicting scenes from The Tale of Genji soon after its appearance, and the practice has persisted over the centuries. During the seventeenth century, Tosa School artists painted album leaves of Genji scenes in miniature. The artist of this screen has deftly transferred the miniature style to a large-scale composition by interspersing highly detailed images among large patches of gold clouds. The resulting composition works on multiple levels. The viewer is rewarded on close inspection with the delicate facial features of the figures, the intricate patterns on drapery and clothing, and the careful depiction of various flowering trees and grasses. Viewed at a distance, the gold clouds and strong lines of the architecture in the different vignettes work together to form a unifying decorative pattern.