UNSIGNED (KYOTO OR OSAKA), EDO PERIOD (EARLY-MID 18TH CENTURY)

Details

An ivory netsuke
Unsigned (Kyoto or Osaka), Edo Period (Early-Mid 18th Century)
Katabori, stained ivory; a standing figure of an ijin [foreigner] wearing a headcloth, a 'cloud collar' and a long coat incised with stylised wave-and leaf-patterns and tied at the front in a simple knot, the girdle partly obscured at the front by his overhanging belly, a basket tied at his left side and a stick in his right hand, his left hand to the side of his face and holding a branch of peach, a small monkey perched on his left shoulder, the himotoshi formed by two holes in the back below the girdle, the larger hole below and to the left of the smaller, strongly contrasting patinas on the back and front, age cracks
8.6 x 3.2 cm. (3 3/8 x 1¼ in.)

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Amsterdam, 25 October 1994, lot 663 (to Dreesmann).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. E-41).

Special notice

Christie's charges a Buyer's premium calculated at 20.825% of the hammer price for each lot with a value up to €90,000. If the hammer price of a lot exceeds €90,000 then the premium for the lot is calculated at 20.825% of the first €90,000 plus 11.9% of any amount in excess of €90,000. Buyer's Premium is calculated on this basis for each lot individually.

Lot Essay

This netsuke combines several different elements seen in other early netsuke, including the fishing basket and rod, probably based on a Chinese book illustration; for an example see Joe Earle, Netsuke: Fantasy and Reality in Japanese Miniature Sculpture, Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2001, catalogue no. 6 and for the Chinese illustration, see Patrizia Jirka-Schmitz, Netsuke: 112 Meisterwerke: The Trumpf Collection (in German and English), Stuttgart: Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde and Arnoldische Art Publishers, 2000, p. 73.

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