Page 303 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

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159 picture scroll commemorating the shell games (see cats. 246, 273). As
Cabinet for ''Tale ofGenji," with design miraculous legends associated with was customary for Genji boxes, the
o/ishiyamadera that temple. Circular crests of the six drawers — two vertical tiers of
Tokugawa family are distributed three — are inscribed with the chap-
1624/1644 throughout the landscape. The de- ters they were meant to contain. Here
Lacquer on wood with makie tachable front panel is held in place the chapter listings on the drawers
3
25.5 x 28.8 x 40.6 (10 x n /8 x 16)
The Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Tokyo by a folded silver latch representing are more economically painted in
another family crest. Inside are six gold lacquer rather than executed in
drawers in two vertical rows of three, raised silver letters (see cat. 159). The
• This sumptuous object typifies the design also differs in that the cabinet
high level of luxury attained in the each bearing between seven and ten is formed of two separate boxes
raised silver chapter titles for tidy
crafts of the Edo period. Elaborately storage and easy retrieval of the hinged together and with a continu-
formed from multiple coats of lus- ous design.
trous lacquer applied over a wooden bound volumes. The two crests indi-
cate that this elegant cabinet may
base and adorned with flecks of silver The powdered gold and silver par-
and two contrasting shades of gold have been in the trousseau of a highly ticles are larger in this piece than on
(a technique called makie), the cabinet placed bride related to the Tokugawa the preceding cabinet, imparting a
family.
MT
was created for a single purpose: to bolder texture and revealing the
store the fifty-four chapters of the lit- diversity of technique found in Edo-
erary classic Tale ofGenji. On the top period lacquer. And while the stan-
and front are depictions of Ishiyama- 160 "Tale ofGenji," with design dard temple and shrine buildings
Cabinet for
dera, the temple on the shores of of Ishiyamadera at Ishiyamadera are depicted here as
Lake Biwa near Kyoto, where Mura- well, the treatment of the rocks as
saki Shikibu is said to have written Lacquer on wood with makie angular, towering forms points to
the Tale of Genji around the turn of the 22.1 x 20.3 x 38.5 (8Vs x 8 x 1574) a different — more Chinese — proto-
eleventh century. Views of the Seta Tokyo National Museum type. The absence of family crests
River flowing from Lake Biwa and the suggests that this was not part of a
Great Seta Bridge decorate the back • Although a somewhat less deluxe bridal trousseau but was perhaps
and sides of the cabinet. The design- production than the previous example a ready-made item purchased by a
ers evidently had access to traditional (cat. 159), this cabinet testifies to the member of the merchant class. MT
Yamatoe models, for the depiction of popularity of lacquer cabinets created
Ishiyamadera closely resembles the to house the Tale of Genji. They were
image created by the court painter part of a genre of beautifully produced
Tosa Mitsunobu (1434-c. 1525) in a containers designed for specific avo-
cational purposes, such as boxes to
hold paraphernalia for the incense or