EDO PERIOD (MID-LATE 18TH CENTURY)

Details

A LACQUERED WOOD NETSUKE
EDO PERIOD (MID-LATE 18TH CENTURY)
A powerfully composed group of sumo wrestlers performing the kawazu throw, the figure covered with red lacquer, the loin cloth highlighted in brown
7.5cm. high

Literature

International Netsuke Convention Society, vol.10, (1982), p.21, no.4a and b
François Storno, Le Netzké Errant, (Geneva, 2005), fig.2

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

A similar netsuke by Masatoshi of Tokyo depicting sumo wresters in a very similar pose is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (11.23729). Joe Earle notes that the pose refers to a classic bout between Kawazu and Matano that took place in 1176. Matano was about to lift Kawazu by his loincloth and throw him, but Kawazu outwitted him with a combined neck grip and leg trip, a move still known as kawazugake.1

1. Joe Earle, Netsuke: Fantasy and Reality in Japanese Miniature Sculpture, (Boston, 2001), p.200, fig.163

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