Page 67 - Wolley & Wallace, July 1, 2020 Japanese Works of Art UK

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λ A JAPANESE WOOD AND IVORY ARTICULATED KOBE TOY
MEIJI PERIOD, 19 CENTURY
TH
Carved as a mother carrying her child on her back, their heads and hands
movable, the mother’s tongue and left eye sticking out and the child’s neck
extending upwards, 6.8cm.
£200-300
Provenance: from the collection of Richard Gordon Smith (1858-1918) and
thence by descent. Gordon Smith was an English traveller, sportsman and
naturalist who lived in Japan at the turn of the century. He transcribed traditional
myths in “Ancient Tales and Folklore of Japan” (1908) and his diaries were later
published in “Travels in the Land of the Gods: The Japan Diaries of Richard
Gordon Smith” (1986).
348
λ A JAPANESE WOOD AND IVORY ARTICULATED KOBE TOY
MEIJI PERIOD, 19 CENTURY
TH
Carved as a bakemono, the monster with an articulated head and arm, holding
a sceptre from which hangs a conical jewel in one hand and a walking cane in 350
the other, sticking its tongue out and with two small fangs, 8.4cm.
£400-600 350
FOUR JAPANESE MASK NETSUKE
349 MEIJI PERIOD, 19 CENTURY
TH
λ A JAPANESE WOOD AND IVORY ARTICULATED KOBE TOY
MEIJI PERIOD, 19 CENTURY Two in metal and two in wood, variously depicting Okame, Hannya and other
TH
characters, together with a wood netsuke of a boy with a lion mask for the
Carved as a tanuki racoon dog transforming into a drum, holding a sign in one shishi-mai dance beating on a small drum before him, signed Mokusai and
hand and a sake bottle in the other, with movable head and arms, the eyes “aged sixty-five”, 6cm max. (5)
and tongue sticking out, 6cm. £300-500
£300-500
Provenance: an English private collection, London and Shetland.
351
SEVEN JAPANESE NETSUKE
MEIJI PERIOD, 19 CENTURY
TH
One made of the lacquered jaw of a small carnivorous animal, possibly a dog;
the others in wood, variously depicting a large tengu no tamago, the winged
creature beating on a drum; another a kneeling figure wearing a square mask;
the third a large oni trying to hide under a shield on Setsubun; the fourth
a skeleton sumo wrestling an oni; the fifth a grimacing South Sea Islander
holding a large jar and the last carved as a bakemono climbing on the back of
a mokugyo bell with bat wings, some with signatures including Kokuho and
Shunsai, 6cm max. (7)
£400-600
351
Provenance: from the collection of a lady of title, and thence by descent.
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