Signed Sosui (Ouchi Sosui, 1907-1972), Showa period (20th century)
Details
A Wood Netsuke of Nikki Danjo Turning into a Rat
Signed Sosui (Ouchi Sosui, 1907-1972), Showa period (20th century)
Modelled as Nikki Danjo, the character from the kabuki story ‘The Disputed Succession’ (Meiboku Sendai hagi), with a small scroll held in his mouth, the back of his formal costume dissolving into a wisp of smoke from which emerges an apparition of a large rat
6.2 cm. high
For another similar model by Sosui, see Bernard Hurtig, Masterpieces of Netsuke Art: One Thousand Favorites of Leading Collectors, (Tokyo and New York, 1973), p. 171, no. 697