The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 22, 2024

Album of Illustrations for the Tale of Genji

Album of Illustrations for the Tale of Genji

1600s
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.)
Location: not on view

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).
  • ?–1961
    Mrs. Maurice [Vera Segal] Sterne [1904–c. 1965], Mount Kisco, NY, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1961–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1987-January 10, 1988).
    Year in Review (1961). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 1-26, 1961).
  • {{cite web|title=Album of Illustrations for the Tale of Genji|url=false|author=|year=1600s|access-date=22 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1961.202