Ivy Lane
Medium
six-panel folding screen; ink and color on gilded paper
Dimensions
136.5 × 271 cm · image: 133.1 × 267.6 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1954.127
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
male
About this artwork
In an episode from the tenth-century literary classic The Tales of Ise, a courtier happens upon a Buddhist priest on an ivy-covered pass on Mount Utsu, a Japanese homonym for “Melancholy Mountain.” He entrusts the priest with a letter to a former lover in the capital whom he laments he can no longer see, even in dreams. The Tales of Ise features poems set within a basic narrative of the journeys of a courtier in exile.