The Tale of Genji (Early 17th century): Artwork and History

The Tale of Genji (Early 17th century) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Artist Unknown Japanese.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

This pair of folding screens depicts a few scenes from The Tale of Genji, a long novel written in the 11th century by the court lady Murasaki Shikibu. Even though they take place at different times in the story, the selected episodes are set in one continuous landscape. On the far right, the baby Genji is presented to his father, the emperor, for the first time. Across the bottom of the left screen, court ladies argue about which season is the most beautiful. Above, in the upper left corner, Genji and his love, Lady Murasaki, share an intimate moment in front of a charcoal brazier. The painter may have chosen these scenes fo their felicitous overtones. The overall character of the screens suggests that they were intended to be part of a bride’s wedding trousseau, which would accompany her to her new home.

Object facts

• Title: The Tale of Genji
• Date: Early 17th century
• Artist attribution: Artist Unknown Japanese
• Place of origin: Japan
• Medium: Pair of six-panel screens; ink, colors, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Each: 166 × 371 cm (65 3/8 × 146 1/8 in.)
• Type: Painting
• Department: Arts of Asia
• Reference number: 1962.575

Collection credit

Gift of Robert Allerton in honor of Mr. & Mrs. William McCormick Blair's fiftieth wedding anniversary

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.