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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1985.352
People
Illustrations by Tosa Mitsunobu, Japanese (active c. 1469-1522)
Calligraphic excerpts by Fushimi no Miya Kunitaka Shinnō, Konoe Hisamichi, Sanjōnishi Sanetaka, Jōhōji Kōjo, Reizei Tamehiro, Son'ō Jugō, Japanese (mid 15th-early 16th century)
Frontispiece & finispiece by Tosa Mitsuoki 土佐光起, Japanese (1617 - 1691)
Title
Tale of Genji Album (Genji monogatari gajō) of Illustrations and Calligraphic Excerpts (Two Volumes)
Classification
Paintings with Calligraphy
Work Type
album
Date
Muromachi period (c. 1509), remounted late 17th century and again in 1998-99
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, Japan, Kyoto Metropolitan Area, Kyōto
Period
Muromachi period, 1392-1568
Culture
Japanese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/200061

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Album (now split into two volumes) of 54 paired paintings and kotobagaki (calligraphic excerpts), with later frontispiece and finispiece paintings
Dimensions
Each volume (closed): H. 34.1 x W. 44.9 x D. 14.7 cm (13 7/16 x 17 11/16 x 11 9/16 in.)
Each chapter pair (approx.): H. 24.3 cm x W. 36.5 cm (9 9/16 x 14 3/8 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of the Hofer Collection of the Arts of Asia
Accession Year
1985
Object Number
1985.352
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art, Shugyoku no Nihon bijutsu: Hosomi Korekushon no zembô, Bosuton, Kurîburando, Sakkurâ no wadaisaku, exh. cat. (Chiba, Japan, 1996), Cat. 85
  • Kaori Chino, "Tokushû: Genji monogatari gajô - Hâvâdo Daigaku Bijutsukan zô" [Special Issue: The Tale of Genji Album in the Collection of Harvard University Art Museums] (Tokyo, Japan, 1997)
  • Melissa McCormick, “Documentation Concerning the Production of the Tale of Genji Album (Harvard University Art Museums) Recorded in the Diary of Sanjonishi Sanetaka.”, Kokka (Tokyo, 1999), No. 1241, pp. 27-28
  • Anne Rose Kitagawa, "Behind the Scenes of Harvard's Tale of Genji album", Apollo, Vol. CLIV No. 477, November 2001
  • Melissa McCormick, "Genji Goes West: The 1510 Genji Album and the Visualization of Court and Capital", Art Bulletin, College Art Association of America (New York, March 2003), LXXXV No. 1, p. 55 / Fig. 2
  • Aya Ryusawa, Kaiga de tsuzuru Genji monogatari [The Tale of Genji through Painting], exh. cat., The Tokugawa Art Museum (Nagoya, Japan, October 2005)
  • Le Dit du Genji de Murasaki-shikibu [The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu]: Illustré par la peinture traditionnelle japonaise du XII au XVII siècle [Illustrated by traditional Japanese painting of the 12th through 17th century], Editions Diane de Selliers (Paris, France, 2007 & 2008)
  • Takeshi Noguchi, Genji monogatari sennen kinen [The Millenium of The Tale of Genji], exh. cat., The Museum of Kyoto (Kyoto, Japan, April 2008), Cat. No. 70
  • Melissa McCormick, Tosa Mitsunobu and the Small Scroll in Medieval Japan, University of Washington Press (Seattle, WA, 2009), pp. 93-94, fig. 35
  • Melissa McCormick, The Tale of Genji: A Visual Companion, Princeton University Press (Princeton, 2018)
  • John T Carpenter and Melissa McCormick, The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 2019), pp. 174-175, cat. 38

Exhibition History

  • Masterworks of East Asian Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 11/03/1995 - 06/09/1996
  • The Legacy of Japanese Art, Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art, 10/01/1996 - 11/16/1996
  • Nature as Metaphor: Paintings from China, Korea, and Japan, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/12/1998 - 02/13/2000
  • A Decade of Collecting: Asian Acquisitions 1990-1999, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 03/11/2000 - 11/05/2000
  • Streams and Mountains without End: Landscape Paintings from China, Korea, and Japan, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 11/25/2000 - 08/26/2001
  • Plum, Orchid, Chrysanthemum, and Bamboo: Botanical Motifs and Symbols in East Asian Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 07/06/2002 - 01/05/2003
  • Kazari: Decoration and Display in Japan, 15th-19th Centuries, Japan Society, New York, 10/17/2002 - 12/31/2002
  • A Compelling Legacy: Masterworks of East Asian Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/24/2004 - 03/20/2005
  • Cultivating Virtue: Botanical Motifs and Symbols in East Asian Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/08/2006 - 04/08/2007
  • The Millennium of the Tale of Genji, The Museum of Kyoto, Kyoto, 04/26/2008 - 06/08/2008

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu