A Japanese Horn Figural Bottle

1800-1880

Details

A Japanese Horn Figural Bottle
1800-1880
Naturalistically modelled as a fisherman-farmer, with exquisite details to all parts, holding a small tortoise in his clasped hands and also his sandal, removed from his left foot, a wicker basket, possibly with tools tied at his waist, a millet spray and a fish net slung across his shoulders, his robe minutely detailed with loose flower sprays and simple discs on a diaper cell ground, the old face beautifully modelled, the figure stooping very slightly, the bun of his hair forming the stopper
36in. (8.3cm.) high

Lot Essay

The figure may depict Urashima Taro, a hero of a popular Japanese fairy tale. He is depicted in various guises, one as an old man with wrinkled face, sometimes as a fisherman with a box, or upon a tortoise.

Urashima was a crab-fisher of Midzu no Ye, (Ejima) in the Yosa district of the province of Tango. In the second year of Teneho (AD 447) he fished a tortoise, but instead of killing the animal he good naturedly put it back into the water. It so transpired that this tortoise was no less than Otohine, a princess of high rank, whom he later married. The complete story appears in the Manngo Shiu. See Henri Lodoly, Legend in Japanese Art, Tokyo, 1967, pp. 548-549

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