Sample Search
1. Started with an image from Storytelling in Japanese Art
I picked this image:
The caption says it's Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra: "Universal Gateway," from The Illustrated Miracles of Kannon. The artist is Sugawara Mitsushige (active 13th century), Kamakura period, dated 1257. Handscroll; ink, color, and gold on paper, and that it's housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I would read the text around this and get everything I could from the exhibition catalog you already have.
2. ARTstor
I went to ARTstor and found the image with a search for "Universal Gateway".
3. JSTOR
I went to the JSTOR tab and found a little about the Lotus Sutra, although I'm not sure if this scroll is the same thing as the Lotus Sutra or the Illustrated Miracles of Kannon, so I don't know if the articles I find here are about a text or about this scroll.
I tried looking for the author, Mitsushige. I found a few brief mentions, but in my brief glance, it doesn't look like much. I don't see any more in WorldCat.
4. The Met
Because it belongs to the Met, and they have extensive online collections, I looked this up on their website. I found the page for this work. It includes a one-minute audio description by an expert. It also includes the rest of the scroll, so I can see the work in context.
5. Back to JSTOR
When I'm only finding some things, and I'm not sure how much information I'm getting from JSTOR, I'm going to take a step back and think "What is this?" It is a handscroll from the Kamakura period, and those make good keywords for JSTOR, and Kamakura automatically is associated with Japan, so I don't need to add Japan or Japanese as a keyword.
Also, as I skim sources in JSTOR, see the term emaki associated with this handscroll.
I look up emaki in Wikipedia to see if it's relevant. Emaki, or emakimono is a Japanese word for illustrated handscroll, which is what my artwork is. Looking up emaki in JSTOR gets over 1,000 results. They look highly relevant, though they will be from more time periods than just the one I'm looking for.
emaki and kamakura
Gets over 600 results and I can see if any are relevant. I think I have enough information to select from between these two searches.
Note: I didn't use WorldCat here, but don't forget you can look for article chapters on your artworks! There are many great print resources in the Bertrand Library.