Parody of the Third Princess and Kashiwagi: “Chapter 50: A Hut in the Eastern Provinces”

Utagawa Kunisada

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Through his illustrations of A Fraudulent Murasaki’s Rustic Genji, single-sheet prints, triptychs, and diptychs, Utagawa Kunisada was more prolific than any other ukiyo-e artist in the creation of Genji-themed prints. This pair of prints is thirty-seventh in a group of thirty-eight diptychs from the series Lasting Impressions of a Late Genji Collection (Genji goshū yojō), published between 1857 and 1861. The most complex and visually satisfying of Kunisada’s Genji images, this series was lavishly printed on thick paper to allow special effects such as blind printing (karazuri) or textile-weave printing (nunomezuri). The metallic pigments, the burnishing (shōmenzuri), and the overall luxurious presentation usually characterize deluxe privately published prints called surimono.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art