Page 89 - 2021 March 16th Japanese and Korean Art, Christie's New York City

65 A CARVED WOOD SCULPTURE OF A BULL 66 A CARVED WOOD SCULPTURE OF A SEATED
DARUMA
EDO PERIOD (19TH CENTURY), SIGNED MINKO AND CURSIVE MONOGRAM
Finely carved as a netsuke of a recumbent bull MEIJI PERIOD (LATE 19TH-EARLY 20TH CENTURY), SIGNED TOKOKU, SEALED
with inlaid gold eyes, signature on underside BAIRYU
1¬ in. (4.1 cm.) long Carved as a netsuke of a seated Daruma with He was the first patriarch of Chan (Zen) Buddhism
inlaid gold earrings and jade himotoshi(cord in China, and while there is some evidence for his
$5,000-7,000 hole), reverse side of the figure incised with a historical existence, much of what is known of his life is
poem, the signature and seal mark on a gold based on later sources. The inscription on reverse side
PROVENANCE:
tablet inlaid on reverse side of this sculpture is a variation on a couplet attributed to
Melvin and Betty Jahss Collection
1º in. (3.2 cm.) high Daruma. The couplet has been translated by Stephen
Addiss, The Art of Zen: Paintings and Calligraphy by
LITERATURE:
$4,000-6,000
Melvin and Betty Jahss, Inro and other miniature forms Japanese Monks, 1600–1925(1989), p. 192.
of Japanese Lacquer Art(London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Ikka goyo wo hiraku A single flower opens to five petals
The semi-historical monk, Bodhidharma, known in
Trubner & Co., 1971), no. 174.
Japan as Daruma, was said to have traveled to China kekka jinen ni naru And bears fruit according to its own
from India sometime in the AD 5th or 6th century. nature