WICKER EMBANKMENT BASKET WITH STONES (JAKAGO)

Details

WICKER EMBANKMENT BASKET WITH STONES (JAKAGO)
Wood, signed and sealed Kyokusai
(1868-1926)
1 1/2 in. (3.9 cm.) long, in fitted wood tomobako inscribed Jakago and Kyokusai

Provenance

Literature

Raymond Bushell, Netsuke, An Exhibition of Netsuke from the Raymond Bushell Collection, Mikimoto, Tokyo, 1979, fig. 445; Raymond Bushell, Netsuke Familiar and Unfamiliar, Weatherhill, New York, 1975, fig. 203

Exhibited

Lot Essay

The basket of stones (jakago) is used to shore up river banks at the time of floods. This netsuke is carved of a single block of wood although it contains loose 'stones' which move freely inside the basket. Kyokusai is known for this type of ingenious carving.