Six-fold Screen: Presentation of a Prince

This screen painting, attributed to Chiyo Mitsuhisa, depicts the "Presentation of a Prince," an episode taken from the first chapter of the "Tale of Genji" (Genji Monogatari), in which Genji is presented to the emperor. Here, Genji is seen dressed in a white patterned robe and sitting on a mat to the lower right of the emperor.

Chiyo Mitsuhisa was one of the very few distinguished female artists in Japanese painting history. She was the daughter and pupil of Tosa Mitsunobu and wife of Kanō Motonobu. Her son Shoyei (1519–1592) was also a painter of great distinction. Mitsuhisa became a well-known illustrator of story and poetry books and was particularly famous for her illustration of the "Tale of Genji." Here, the artist demonstrates her mastery of both the Tosa and Kanō schools.

This attribution to Chiyo Mitsuhisha was made by Ernest F. Fenollosa (1853-1908), the American art historian who was greatly influential in the introduction of Japanese art to the West. Joseph C. Thoms, a Cincinnati businessman, acquired the Art Museum's screen in 1897 under the guidance of Fenollosa.