Ivory netsuke with a design of a man (possibly - Ariōmaru) wrestling a giant octopus.
Circa 1850. Dimensions: 45.5 x 48.3 x 37.8 mmUnsigned.
Ivory netsuke with a design of a man (possibly - Ariōmaru) wrestling a giant octopus.
Circa 1850. Dimensions: 45.5 x 48.3 x 37.8 mmUnsigned.
Netsuke with a design of a laughing peasant carrying a basket and holding a giant mushroom in his right hand.
18th century Dimensions: 55.7 mm tallUnsigned. According to Merrily Baird (Symbols of Japan, page. 93): ...Theis prominent use in the symbol-rich netsuke art form, however, reflects more their sexual symbolism than either their dietary appeal or interesting shapes. Mushrooms in Japan are generally a symbol of fertility, with some flat varieties, like shiitake, being associated with females. In contrast, the matsutake mushroom (Armillaria edodes) is a phallic symbol, as befits its thick, spearlike stem and the fact that it is consumed before cap opens.
Female Daruma Riding a Mushroom. Ippitsusai Bunchô. MFA impressions: 11.18513, 21.4758
Queen Mother of the West is a calque of Xiwangmu in Chinese sources, Seiōbo in Japan. Peaches of Immortality (Chinese: 仙桃) are consumed by the immortals due to their mystic virtue of conferring longevity on all who eat them.
Provenance: Charles Ephrussi (1849-1905) acquired in the 1870s; a wedding gift in 1898 to his cousin Ritter Viktor von Ephrussi (1860-1945) and Baroness Emilie (Emmy) Schey von Koromla (1879-1938); retrieved post-war by their daughter Elizabeth de Waal (1899-1991); given by her to her brother Ignaz (Iggie) Ephrussi (1906-1994), Tokyo; bequeathed by him to his great-nephew Edmund de Waal (born 1964), London, author of “The Hare with Amber Eyes: a hidden inheritance”. London / New York: Chatto & Windus / Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 978-0099539551. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ephrussi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephrussi_family. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_de_Waal.Ivory netsuke with the design of wrestling Oni by Kaigyokusai Masatsugu [懐玉齋正次].
Signed: Masatsugu [正次] Osaka School. Made: 1850-1900; Late Edo - Meiji Period. Dimensions: 44 x 40 x 33 mm.The right hand of the upper Oni and one toe of the lower Oni are missing. Ref.: Raymond Bushell. Collector's netsuke. Weatherhill, NY, Tokyo; Ninth printing, 2002, pp. 84-87. "Kaigyokusai Masatsugu (1813-1892) was an Osaka based carver renowned for his flawless technique as illustrated upon this netsuke with its finely carved ivory form, with no staining and bright inlaid eyes" (V&A).