Tosa / Kano
Murasaki ShikibuSigned: Kiyohara-shi onna Yukinobu hitsu
Seals: Kiyohara-jo
Technique: colours on silk 37.3 x 55.2
Mounting: green brocade and dark brown raw silk 107 x 60
Condition: worn, frayed at the edges of the mounting, cracks in the silk, still quite good
たれか世に なからへてみむ / かきとめし / 跡はきへせぬ / かたみなれとも
誰か世に / 長らへて見ん / 書きとめし / 跡は消えせぬ / 形見なれども
Dare ga yo ni / nagaraete mimu / kakitomeshi /ato wa kiesenu / katami naredomo.
As life flows on,
who will ever read it--
this keep sake to her
whose memory
will never die?
Verse 65 from the ‘Murasaki Shikibu collected poems’「紫式部集」より. Possibly her farewell verse that she wrote on her deathbed and included as such (as a lament) in the ‘Shinkokinshu’ verse 817 (section: sadness)
Murasaki Shikibu (973-1014)
She was the author of the Tale of Genji, born to Fujiwara Tametoki (.. -1029), a Chinese scholar and her mother was the daughter of Fujiwara Naritoshi, who died early, so she was raised by her father. In 999, she married the much younger Fujiwara Nobutaka (.. -1001), and gave birth to Daini Sanmi Kenshi, who became the wet nurse of Emperor Go-Reizei (1025-1068).
Yukinobu was one of the rare women painters affiliated with the Kanô school. She was the daughter of Kusumi Morikage (c. 1620-1690), one of the two best pupils of Kanô Tan’yû (1602-1674) and Kuniko, a niece of Tan’yû. After studying with her father Yukinobu became an apprentice of Tan’yû at age 16. She was greatly influenced by him and her work became very close of that of her teacher. Yukinobu married another pupil of Tan’yû, Kiyohara Hirano Morikiyo.
Reference:
Roberts p. 206
Fister p. 34-42 (Comp. Fister #7)
Price: EUR 2,400 / USD 2,544
