Book Cabinet for the Tale of Genji in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 2019

Book Cabinet (Tansu) for The Tale of Genji with Ishiyamadera Temple Design
18th century

Object Details

Period: Edo period (1615–1868)

Date: 18th century

Culture: Japan

Medium: Lacquered wood with gold and silver takamaki-e, hiramaki-e, and togidashimaki-e, and cutout gold-foil application on nashiji (“pear-skin”) ground; gilt-bronze fittings

Dimensions: 8 × 15 3/16 × 8 11/16 in. (20.3 × 38.5 × 22.1 cm)

Classification: Lacquer

Credit Line: Lent by Tokyo National Museum

This portable book cabinet was designed to house a set of the fifty-four volumes of The Tale of Genji, now lost. Its structure is quite unusual, as it opens in the middle, the two halves secured at the back with two butterfly-shaped hinges. Each half contains three drawers, the fronts of which are inscribed with the titles of the volumes that belonged within. The outside of the cabinet is decorated with a landscape of the surroundings of Ishiyamadera and the Seta River area in relief takamaki-e and hiramaki-e with additional cutout gold-foil details. As Ishiyamadera was well known as the place where Murasaki Shikibu wrote Genji, it was an appropriate choice of decoration for the book cabinet.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/739047