Antique 4-Paneled Japanese Folding Screen (Byobu) Featuring Domestic Scenes and Nature from the Tale of Genji
This wonderfully painted 4-paneled storied screen on rice paper from the Edo Period (and framed with stylized gold leaf clouds and earth designs on the top and bottom of the panels then fully framed with a golden-colored silk textile) features an ancient-looking narrative scene of several people and nature from the iconic Tale of Genji written by Murasaki Shikibu, a court lady from the Heian period (794-1184). The left panel includes tall mountains, blossoming trees and reflections in water, and a finely dressed man arriving on a finely dressed horse alongside a soldier with a sword. The central left panel includes a man, Prince Genji, wearing extraordinary robes and seated at a porch in front of his home and among delicately painted red and white flowers. The central right panel features a seated woman reading inside a house among many pillows and a man on the other side of a fence playing the flute while on horseback. Beautiful large trees and flowering bushes and a seated woman peeking out from under bamboo blinds (in order to see and hear the musician) are included on the far right panel. A wonderful depiction of four scenes of court life centered on the life and loves of Prince Gengi from the most classic Japanese novel.
4' tall; each panel is 17" across for a total width of 68" across