Japanese Meiji Lacquer/ Gilt Wood Zushi - Inari Okami

East Asia, Japan, early Meiji, ca. 1880 CE. A finely carved and gilded wooden zushi (a petite Buddhist shrine) portraying Inari Okami or O-Inari, the Japanese kami of agriculture, industry, and general prosperity. Shown here as a bearded man, the elderly deity stands atop a kitsune, or white fox who acts as Inari's messenger, as he grasps items of his iconography: a sword or whip in his right hand and a bundle of rice in his left. He is dressed in a lengthy robe with a lustrous gilt hem and belt. The interior of the shrine boasts a stunning heavy gilding. Buddhist statues in Japan frequently reside in such zushi - wooden shrines with doors that can both reveal or conceal the deity within. Some scholars trace this Japanese interpretation of a Buddhist practice to Shinto shrines, where it is rare to find a statue, and they are always concealed. Size of figure: 3.875" W x 6.375" H (9.8 cm x 16.2 cm); Size of shrine: 5" L x 4" W x 9.75" H (12.7 cm x 10.2 cm x 24.8 cm)

Provenance: private southern California, USA collection, acquired before 2000

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#162236
Condition Report: Hinges of right door broken and hinges of left door loose. Figure removable from fox. Top of sword or whip missing. Chipping to paint of figure and exterior of shrine. Nicks, chips, and abrasions to figure and shrine. Nice remaining gilding.