Writing Box (Suzuribako) with “The Lady of the Bridge” Design

Writing Box (Suzuribako) with “The Lady of the Bridge” Design

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The exterior of this writing box shows two aristocratic ladies reading a letter on a veranda, surrounded by a garden of autumn grasses. The first two lines of a poem from the Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (Kokin wakashū, ca. 905) are inscribed in inlaid characters on the lid’s exterior and continue on the interior, after which readers are left to complete the poem: Does she wait for me Again tonight, having spread But a single robe On her woven rush matting— The maiden at Uji Bridge? —Translation by H. C. McCullough The scene and the poem might refer to the Genji chapter “The Divine Princess at Uji Bridge” (Hashihime).

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Writing Box (Suzuribako) with “The Lady of the Bridge” DesignWriting Box (Suzuribako) with “The Lady of the Bridge” DesignWriting Box (Suzuribako) with “The Lady of the Bridge” DesignWriting Box (Suzuribako) with “The Lady of the Bridge” DesignWriting Box (Suzuribako) with “The Lady of the Bridge” Design

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.