Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Jeweled Chaplet and Typhoon Chapters from the Tale of Genji

Japan

Date

late 18th–early 19th century

Medium

Four-panel folding screen, ink, color, and gold on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Genji’s palace had four quadrants, each with its own seasonal garden and living quarters for a specific woman. Each quadrant, and thus each woman, was associated with a season: Murasaki, Genji’s favorite consort, was in the quadrant associated with spring; Akikonomu, an empress and Genji’s adopted daughter, with autumn; one of his lovers, the Akashi Lady, winter; and another of Genji’s lovers, the Lady of the Orange Blossoms, summer. This small screen shows two scenes, both of which take place at Genji’s palace and feature one of these women. In the right-hand scene, Genji and Murasaki gather in spring to examine robes laid out on lacquer trays to determine which ones to send to the other women of Genji’s mansion. At left, Genji’s son visits Akikonomu to check on her after a storm hit the palace one autumn night. Her young attendants set out insect cages near the flowering grasses in her garden. This screen’s mate, now missing, may have depicted scenes associated with the other two women residing at Genji’s palace, the Akashi Lady and the Lady of the Orange Blossoms. Japan, Asia

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