16th Apr, 2021 13:00

Fine Netsuke & Sagemono

 
  Lot 233
 

233

Ɏ MIYAGI CHOKUSAI (B. 1877): A RARE IVORY NETSUKE OF FOUR MEN TRYING TO CAPTURE THE NAMAZU

Sold for €4,880

including Buyer's Premium


Lot details

By Miyagi Chokusai (born 1877), signed Chokusai 直齋with kakihan
Japan, Tokyo, Meiji period (1868-1912)

Published: Raymond Bushell (1975) Netsuke Familiar & Unfamiliar, New York/Tokyo, p. 224, no. 744 – where the netsuke is listed under the category ‘treatment of subject’.

Superbly carved as the Namazu, the legendary gigantic catfish living inside the earth and causing earthquakes in Japan, and four fishermen captured in a ridiculous and futile attempt to catch the mythical fish. One man, almost only visible from the underside, is hanging on to the fish’s whiskers, while a second attempts to catch him with a comically undersized net, the third trying a hyotan (double gourd), and the fourth simply floundering below the Namazu’s head with horn-inlaid eyes. The himotoshi cleverly formed by the leg of the man on the underside. Signed to the underside of the fish’s tail CHOKUSAI with a kakihan. The ivory of an appealing color with a fine polish.

LENGTH 3.5 cm

Condition: Excellent condition with minor surface wear.
Provenance: Spanish private collection.

Note the finely and minutely incised details, the level of detail here being more that of an okimono than of a netsuke. A masterpiece by the highly important Tokyo school netsuke-shi Miyagi Chokusai.

Davey writes on Miyagi Chokusai, “a fine artist whose work is rarely encountered. It is invariably of ivory, stained and with intricate details”.

Literature comparison: Another figural netsuke by the same carver is in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number M.91.250.138.

 

By Miyagi Chokusai (born 1877), signed Chokusai 直齋with kakihan
Japan, Tokyo, Meiji period (1868-1912)

Published: Raymond Bushell (1975) Netsuke Familiar & Unfamiliar, New York/Tokyo, p. 224, no. 744 – where the netsuke is listed under the category ‘treatment of subject’.

Superbly carved as the Namazu, the legendary gigantic catfish living inside the earth and causing earthquakes in Japan, and four fishermen captured in a ridiculous and futile attempt to catch the mythical fish. One man, almost only visible from the underside, is hanging on to the fish’s whiskers, while a second attempts to catch him with a comically undersized net, the third trying a hyotan (double gourd), and the fourth simply floundering below the Namazu’s head with horn-inlaid eyes. The himotoshi cleverly formed by the leg of the man on the underside. Signed to the underside of the fish’s tail CHOKUSAI with a kakihan. The ivory of an appealing color with a fine polish.

LENGTH 3.5 cm

Condition: Excellent condition with minor surface wear.
Provenance: Spanish private collection.

Note the finely and minutely incised details, the level of detail here being more that of an okimono than of a netsuke. A masterpiece by the highly important Tokyo school netsuke-shi Miyagi Chokusai.

Davey writes on Miyagi Chokusai, “a fine artist whose work is rarely encountered. It is invariably of ivory, stained and with intricate details”.

Literature comparison: Another figural netsuke by the same carver is in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number M.91.250.138.

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