UNSIGNED, EDO PERIOD (LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY)

Details

AN IVORY NETSUKE
Unsigned, Edo period (late 18th/early 19th century)
Of a sage seated on a stool and reading a scroll he holds in both hands, and attended by a coiled dragon among clouds staring at him, katabori, ivory, details lightly stained
25/8in. (6.7cm.) high

Provenance

W. L. Behrens Collection

Literature

Henri L. Joly, W. L. Behrens Collection, pt. 1, Netsuke (London, 1912), cat. no. 785, pl. XVI

Special notice

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Lot Essay

Henri L. Joly describes the figure as a sage, 'not identified, perhaps Rihaku'. Rihaku (Li Bai in Chinese, 699-762 A.D.) is one of the most celebrated of all Chinese poets and is especially well known for his taste for wine. He supposedly died by drowning while walking drunk along a river and according to legend was seen a few years later with a red dragon and a blue fairy with whom he climbed on the dragon and disappeared in the clouds, behind the mountain. The figure could also be identified as Inki Sennin who was nominated King of the Fourteen Heavens by Roshi. He is often represented with a manuscript in his hands or seated in front of a cloud where Roshi sits, and travels in space on a cart pulled by dragons.

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