An ivory netsuke

LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details
An ivory netsuke
Late 18th/early 19th century
Of the Heian Period poetess Ono no Komachi, seated holding a brush and a tanzaku poem slip
4.4cm. high

Lot Essay

The poetess is usually shown as an aged mendicant nun, often seated on a sotoba, (a temporary wooden grave tablet), at the end of her life, having rejected all her suitors. Depictions of her in her youthful beauty are rare.

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