6th Dec, 2024 10:00

Fine Japanese Art

 
  Lot 212
 

212

A FINE HIRADO SAKE BOTTLE AND COVER IN THE SHAPE OF HOTEI

Sold for €1,170

including Buyer's Premium


Lot details

Japan, c. 1800-1850, Edo period (1615-1868)

Exquisitely modeled as the lucky god Hotei portrayed in a crouched position leaning against his large treasure sack, its opening flung over the deity’s shoulder and forming the mouth of the bottle, the leaf-shaped fan held in his right hand forming the cover. His expressive face characterized by thick bushy eyebrows, round eyes, flared nostrils, and wide-open mouth revealing tongue and teeth. The sack and parts of the robe and fan are glazed in dark and pale amber while most of the robe and some other details are painted in underglaze cobalt-blue. The base inscribed tera [‘temple’]. His voluminous robe is rendered in underglaze blue, his skin in white glaze, and his pants are tied with a bow beneath his round protruding belly. The sack is depicted in two distinct shades of brown and at the bottom of the figure, also in brown, the large character “tera” (temple) and a paper label with the printed hiragana characters “sasaki”.

LENGTH 17.5 cm

Condition: Very good condition with little nibbling along the mouth rim and a minor chip to the lid.
Provenance: From a private collection in Düsseldorf, Germany. The base with an old label printed with an inscription in hiragana characters reading ‘sasaki’.

Museum comparison:
Compare a very closely related Hirado sake bottle on display at the Musée d'Ennery, Paris. Compare a very closely related Hirado sake bottle, 18.4 cm long, dated ca. 1800-1850, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, accession number 359-1877.

 

Japan, c. 1800-1850, Edo period (1615-1868)

Exquisitely modeled as the lucky god Hotei portrayed in a crouched position leaning against his large treasure sack, its opening flung over the deity’s shoulder and forming the mouth of the bottle, the leaf-shaped fan held in his right hand forming the cover. His expressive face characterized by thick bushy eyebrows, round eyes, flared nostrils, and wide-open mouth revealing tongue and teeth. The sack and parts of the robe and fan are glazed in dark and pale amber while most of the robe and some other details are painted in underglaze cobalt-blue. The base inscribed tera [‘temple’]. His voluminous robe is rendered in underglaze blue, his skin in white glaze, and his pants are tied with a bow beneath his round protruding belly. The sack is depicted in two distinct shades of brown and at the bottom of the figure, also in brown, the large character “tera” (temple) and a paper label with the printed hiragana characters “sasaki”.

LENGTH 17.5 cm

Condition: Very good condition with little nibbling along the mouth rim and a minor chip to the lid.
Provenance: From a private collection in Düsseldorf, Germany. The base with an old label printed with an inscription in hiragana characters reading ‘sasaki’.

Museum comparison:
Compare a very closely related Hirado sake bottle on display at the Musée d'Ennery, Paris. Compare a very closely related Hirado sake bottle, 18.4 cm long, dated ca. 1800-1850, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, accession number 359-1877.

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