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  • Alternate view of object
Sep 16, 2021
Jun 18, 2015
Sep 24, 2020

Rack of Clouds from Album of Illustrations for the Tale of Genji

Rack of Clouds from Album of Illustrations for the Tale of Genji

源氏絵画帖 薄雲

1600s

Part of a set. See all set records

Japan, Edo period

(1615-1868)

Painting in an accordion-style album; ink, light color, and gold on paper

Each leaf: 26.3 x 22 cm (10 3/8 x 8 11/16 in.); Painting only: 17 x 20.6 cm (6 11/16 x 8 1/8 in.)

Gift of Vera Sterne in memory of her husband, Maurice Sterne 1961.202.g

Location

not on view

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Did you know?

The illustrations are identified by chapter title in cartouches to the upper right of the paintings.

Description

This album contains illustrations for the classic literary work the Tale of Genji, authored in the 1000s by Murasaki Shikibu, an aristocrat of the Heian period (794–1185) court. The scenes are painted in the “white drawing” (hakubyō) mode, in which a fine ink line is used to depict figures and spaces with great subtlety, punctuated only occasionally by traces of red pigment for a character’s lips, a detail of a garment, or a decorative element. These two scenes illustrate episodes from the chapters “Thin Veil of Cloud” (Usugumo) and “Barrier Gate” (Sekiya).

See also
Collection: 
Japanese Art
Department: 
Japanese Art
Type of artwork: 
Bound Volume
Medium: 
Painting in an accordion-style album; ink, light color, and gold on paper
Credit line: 
Gift of Vera Sterne in memory of her husband, Maurice Sterne

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