A FINE PAIR OF SIX-PANEL FOLDING SCREENS BY AN ANONYMOUS ARTIST

Description:

Japan, 17th ct.
Je 137 x 274 cm
A bamboo fence runs over the entire lower portion of this pair of screens. The bamboo rods are placed close to each other leaving no space in between. A bundle of tied together bamboo canes is placed on top. Wisteria and morning glories are growing behind the fence, their elegant tendrils and leaves growing over the top and spreading out to face the viewer. Morning glory (asagao) and wisteria (fuji) are among the most frequently mentioned flowers occurring in the famous classic novel Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji) written by Murasaki Shikibu in the early eleventh century. They play an important role in various episodes and in the poetic transmission of emotions. The representations of asagao and fuji on the current pair of screens refer to chapter 20 (Asagao) and chapter 33 (Fuji no uraba [Shoots of wisteria leaves]), attested by the respective cypher-like illustrations which accompany the 54 Genji crests (genji-mon/kô,) each associated with one of the 54 chapters of the Genji monogatari. In chapter 20, represented by an asagao, Prince Genji woes his cousin Princess Asagao by sending her a poem attached to a morning glory flower. In chapter 33, represented by blossoming wisteria and a sanbô tray, a banquet held in occasion of the reconcilement of Genji and Tô no Chûjô and the betrothal of their children underneath a canopy of wisteria foliage. The patrons and owners of these screens surely were city commoners with ample living space to accommodate such interior decorations and educated enough to easily associate the morning glory and wisteria with the Tale of Genji.
From a European private collection, by repute formerly stock of Barling of Mount Street Ltd, London, in the 1990s, two labels by Nicholas Grindley, one with reference number 0493-04
Partly traces of age, rest.