Anonymous, Tosa School


Scenes from the Tale of GenjiEdo period (1615-1868), 18th centuryA large six-panel screen, ink, colors, gold, and gold leaf on paper, depicting three scenes from Genji monogatari (Tale of Genji), the right side featuring Tokonatsu (Chapter 26), E-awase (Chapter 17) in the center, and Wakamurasaki (Chapter 5) at the left, the vignettes punctuated by gold clouds in moriage relief, an attribution to the court artist Tosa Mitsunari (1646-1710) appears in Japanese on an old label affixed to one edge of the screen 54 3/4 x 144 3/4in (139 x 367.6cm)
|ProvenanceGeorge H. MacyPreviously sold, these Rooms, September 13, 2011, lot 2288. This screen is said to have been purchased in Japan by George H. Macy. For many years Macy ran a subsidiary of his family's company, Carter, Macy, and Co., which in the late nineteenth century was one of the country's largest tea importers (the company began as Carter, Hawley & Co., grocers in New York City). George H. Macy was in charge of the company's foreign assets, including all the facilities along the Pacific Rim. Upon his death in 1917, the screen passed to one of his sons, was sold to family friends during the Depression, then returned to a Macy descendant years later.