|
Shuzan polychrome hinoki (cypress wood) netsuke
18th century
Sozuka Baba
height 10.1 cm
|
the hag Sozuka Baba grips a long staff as she turns to one side, her face pulled into a demoniacal grin and her bulging eyes staring wildly, her straggly hair falls over her mugwort cape and she wears a simple robe over fur leggings, a toad crawls over her shoulder as she attempts, with little success, to disguise herself as Gama Sennin, signed Shuzan
|
This repulsive inhabitant of the underworld was believed to devour the bodies of deceased children, and is typically depicted with a large head, staring eyes and straggling long hair.
|
Provenance:
Ex Marcel Lorber Collection
Ex Emiel Veranneman Collection
|
Published:
The London Netsuke Committee, Contrasting Styles, London 1980, p. 59, no. 125
Sotheby's London, Netsuke and Other Japanese Works of Art from the Collection of the late Marcel Lorber, June 12, 1986, no. 99
Eskenazi, Japanese netsuke, ojime and inro from a private European collection, London, June 1998, no. 36
Expressions of Style: Netsuke as Art, Scholten Japanese Art, New York, August 2001, no. 41
|
|
$17,500
|
|
