Scenes from the Tale of Genji on Silver Ground [right of a pair]

Many Japanese artists employed gold paint and gold leaf on folding screens; instead, the artist of this pair used silver leaf. Over time, silver leaf oxidizes and turns a smoky gray shade while retaining its metallic sheen. The screens present a selection of scenes from The Tale of Genji in no particular order. The upper middle of the left screen, for example, shows 12-year-old Genji at his coming-of-age ceremony. The courtier’s cap he will wear as an adult male rests on a low table before him. The scenes around him and in the right screen are from varying stages of his life.