A Wood Netsuke

SIGNED HOJITSU, EDO PERIOD (MID-19TH CENTURY)

Details

A Wood Netsuke
Signed Hojitsu, Edo Period (Mid-19th Century)
A detailed and finely carved composition of five blind amma [masseurs], each with one or more wens on his forehead, fighting over a misunderstanding, some tug at each others' ears and poke at eyes, while one pulls at the corner of another's mouth, all are wearing kimono and hakama, the customary working costume of the masseur, the signature carved in a raised reserve
16 x 16 x 1in. (2.7 x 3.7 x 2.4cm.)

Lot Essay

This carver lived in the Keiseigakubo area of Tokyo, from which he derived the second and third characters of his go, Meikeisai, and was a direct retainer of the Shogun. He was also patronised by the comparatively wealthy daimyo of Tsugaru in Mutsu, whose income was 100,000 koku of rice a year. He was considered the finest Tokyo carver of his day, and there are twenty-five of his works in the collection of Baron Go, now in the Tokyo National Museum - more than any other artist represented in the collection. He carved mainly figures, but also animals, birds and various other subjects. An almost identical piece to this is illustrated in Lazarnick, p. 478.

See Lazarnick, The Go Collection of Netsuke, Netsuke and Inro Artists, Vol. I, pp. 70-79 and Davey, N., Netsuke, pp. 148-150.

More from Japanese

View All