This pair of screens depict lavish scenes from The Tale of Genji, a novel of profound cultural importance set in Japan’s ‘golden age’, the Heian period (794–1185 CE). Written by Lady Murasaki in the eleventh century, the novel – which recounts the courtly exploits and romances of fictional Prince Genji – is the most quoted work in Japanese literary history and has had an enormous influence on the country’s visual art and poetry.

Scenes from The Tale of Genji – which comprises 284 scenes across 54 chapters – would have been familiar to audiences with intimate knowledge of this immensely popular novel. For instance, the right-hand screen illustrates scenes from Chapter 1: ‘Kiritsubo’ (‘The Paulownia Pavilion’) (top right); Chapter 7: ‘Momijnoga’ (‘Beneath the Autumn Leaves’) (top left); Chapter 14: ‘Miotsukushi’ (‘Channel buoys’) (lower right); and Chapter 16: ‘Sekiya’ (‘The Gatehouse’ or ‘At the Pass’) (lower left). The left-hand screen shows Chapter 19: 'Usugumo' (‘A Rack of Clouds’) (top right); Chapter 24: ‘Kocho’ (‘Butterflies’) (top left); Chapter 26: ‘Tokonatsu’ (‘The Pinks’) (lower right); and Chapter 28: ‘Nowaki’ (‘The Typhoon’) (lower left).

The Hasegawa school was founded by Hasegawa Tohaku in sixteenth-century Kyoto, home of the imperial court. Along with styles influenced by traditional Chinese painting and ink monochrome works, the Hasegawa School also produced yamato-e (‘Japanese pictures’) such as these screens, presenting quintessentially Japanese styles and subjects popular with imperial courtiers.