An ivory netsuke of a dragon

18TH CENTURY

Details
An ivory netsuke of a dragon
18th Century
Writhing among flames, (minor age cracks)
4cm. wide

Lot Essay

Probably the most important Chinese creation to have passed into Japanese art, the Dragon is one of the Four Divinely Constituted creatures and has for centuries dominated the art of literature of the Far East. It appears in diverse forms and numerous stories, and is associated with various Rakan and Sennin. Although the sight of a dragon in its entirety was supposed to cause death to an ordinary mortal, the goddess Benten at Enoshima is said to have appeased a particularly fierce one by marrying it.

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