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StatsPortrait-Icon of Murasaki Shikibu (Murasaki Shikibu zu)
601
90.0cm x 53.0cm
Tosa Mitsuoki (1617 – 1691)
Discover Tosa Mitsuoki (1617-1691), a pivotal figure in Edo period Japanese painting. He revived the Tosa school, blending Yamato-e tradition with Kanō influences & courtly elegance.
Murasaki Shikibu appears poised to begin writing her tale, pausing as if in mid-thought. Her head tilts away from her desk, while her trancelike stare is directed slightly upward, toward the calligraphy sheets in the upper portion of the painting. The inscriptions list the four stages of Tendai Buddhist contemplation (shimon) that Murasaki was said to have mastered, along with two of her waka (thirty-one-syllable poems) that speak to life’s impermanence (mujōkan).
About this artwork
- Title: Portrait-Icon of Murasaki Shikibu (Murasaki Shikibu zu)
- Artist: Tosa Mitsuoki
- Year: 601
- Original dimensions: 90.0cm x 53.0cm
- Format: Tall
- Copyright status: Public domain
- Color palette: Neutrals
- Color hue: Ochre to Sepia
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