Small Byōbu Screen: Scene From The Tale Of Genji - Japan

Scene from the Genji Monogatari

An illustration of the Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji), an 11th-century masterpiece of courtly literature attributed to Murasaki Shikibu.

The screen employs the classical conventions of Yamato-e narrative painting to depict a meeting or a protocol visit within the high aristocracy of the Heian period.

• The Interior Scene (Left Panels): The space is rendered using the fukinuki-yatai ("blown-off roof") technique, allowing a view into the intimacy of private apartments. Ladies-in-waiting or concubines are depicted wearing the jūnihitoe (twelve-layered ceremonial robe) and the suberakashi hairstyle, moving across traditional tatami mats with wide, dark borders. The sliding rear partitions (fusuma) are decorated with monochrome paintings of birds in mid-flight—a meticulous detail attesting to the high rank of the occupants.

• The Exterior Scene (Right Panels): A delegation of male courtiers and dignitaries, wearing traditional eboshi caps and voluminous court robes, advances along the exterior wooden galleries (sunoko). A central figure appears to be introduced to the apartments, evoking an episode of a nocturnal visit or an audience, recurring motifs in the work (such as the journeys of Prince Genji or his son Yūgiri).

The narrative and temporal space between the interior (the muted world of women) and the exterior (the political world of men) is masterfully delimited by flat gold clouds (suyari-gasumi). In the center, a pleasure garden featuring a meandering stream and a blossoming plum tree underscores the refined aesthetics of the era, deeply connected to poetic melancholy (mono no aware).

In the tradition of the Tosa school (specialized in literary miniatures), adapted here into a large-format decorative composition.

Beautiful freshness of the pigments and gold highlights, lending the piece high decorative value and strong appeal for connoisseurs of classical Japanese art. The central hinge needs to be repaired.

82 x 124 cm