Page 59 - Japnese Art Netsuke, Okimono, Lempertz June 2, 2019

372 A boxwood netsuke of a shishimai mask.
Late 18th century

With fierce looking bulging eyes and a flat
nose, covered all over with tufts and locks of
hair, the lower jaw opens to reveal a tongue
and an upper and lower row of teeth. Illegibly
inscribed. Chipped.
Height 2.8 cm
€ 400 – 600

372

373 A bone netsuke of a group of four skulls.
Late 19th century
On top of two large skulls and one smaller
one sits a fourth skull, all of them realistically
rendered with large eye sockets, the jaws with
an upper row of teeth and suture lines. Signed
Seisai?
In Japanese art the numeral four respectively
the representation of four objects is avoided
since the word for „four“ (= shi) also means
death. In this case the representation of four
skulls is congruent with the meaning of shi.
Height 2.9 cm; width 4.1 cm
€ 900 – 1.200

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