Gift Cover (Fukusa) with Tale of Genji Shell-Matching Game (1868–1912): Art, History and Details

Gift Cover (Fukusa) with Tale of Genji Shell-Matching Game (1868–1912) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Japanese elites once presented gifts in boxes with gift covers (fukusa) draped over them. The decorated covers were typically lined with a monochrome backing, but this one’s borders are exposed. Its design is a Tale of Genji shell-matching game. Two clamshells shown in close-up are painted with scenes from two chapters of the novel. The one on the bottom is an episode from the “Kochō” (Butterflies) chapter, in which Genji’s beloved Murasaki sends her young attendants to dance for the empress. The one on the top may depict Genji writing a poem in the “Suzumushi” (Bell Cricket) chapter.

Object facts

• Title: Gift Cover (Fukusa) with Tale of Genji Shell-Matching Game
• Date: 1868–1912
• Culture: Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)
• Type: Embroidery
• Technique: Silk: embroidered; metallic thread
• Dimensions: Overall: 85.1 x 72.4 cm (33 1/2 x 28 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1916.1319

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade

Further reading listed by the museum

• Bush, Mary Polityka. "Fukusa: The Art of Giving in Edo Period Japan." Piecework 23, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 2015): 40-43.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.