TADASHIGE: A FINE WOOD NETSUKE OF THREE RATS NIBBLING ON KAGAMI MOCHI
TADASHIGE: A FINE WOOD NETSUKE OF THREE RATS NIBBLING ON KAGAMI MOCHI
By Hogen Tadashige (Tadayoshi), signed Owari no Kuni ju Tadashige 尾張国住忠茂
Japan, Nagoya, 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)
An amusing carving of a pair of rats gnawing through a large kagami mochi cake while a third sits on top, on the lookout. The sticky rice cake is covered in a crackled pattern with carved dimples and stresses, the mischievous rodents are naturalistically rendered with precise incision work to delineate the hair and all eyes are inlaid in dark horn. Asymmetrical himotoshi to the underside and signed in ukibori characters within a double rectangular reserve Owari no Kuni ju TADASHIGE [Tadashige of Owari province].
DIAMETER 3.6 cm
Condition: Very good condition with minor typical wear. One inlaid pupil replaced.
Provenance: From a private collection in France. An old collector's label to the base.
Kagami mochi is a Japanese traditional cake made up of two sticky rice cakes stacked on top of each other. This cake is offered to the gods on New Year's Day to show respect and receive blessings from them. Prayers are offered for a peaceful, prosperous, and favorable New Year.
Tadashige (sometimes erroneously transcribed as Tadayoshi) was a pupil of Tadatoshi of Nagoya. He earned the title of Hogen during his lifetime and is regarded by Neil Davey as the most celebrated of the Nagoya carvers, his work becoming infinitely more subtle and sophisticated than that of Tadatoshi.
Literature comparison:
For a closely related wood netsuke of two rats nibbling on a rice cake, by Tadashige, see Barry Davies Oriental Art, Netsuke from the Teddy Hahn Collection, London, 1996, pp. 88-89, no. 124.
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TADASHIGE: A FINE WOOD NETSUKE OF THREE RATS NIBBLING ON KAGAMI MOCHI
By Hogen Tadashige (Tadayoshi), signed Owari no Kuni ju Tadashige 尾張国住忠茂
Japan, Nagoya, 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)
An amusing carving of a pair of rats gnawing through a large kagami mochi cake while a third sits on top, on the lookout. The sticky rice cake is covered in a crackled pattern with carved dimples and stresses, the mischievous rodents are naturalistically rendered with precise incision work to delineate the hair and all eyes are inlaid in dark horn. Asymmetrical himotoshi to the underside and signed in ukibori characters within a double rectangular reserve Owari no Kuni ju TADASHIGE [Tadashige of Owari province].
DIAMETER 3.6 cm
Condition: Very good condition with minor typical wear. One inlaid pupil replaced.
Provenance: From a private collection in France. An old collector's label to the base.
Kagami mochi is a Japanese traditional cake made up of two sticky rice cakes stacked on top of each other. This cake is offered to the gods on New Year's Day to show respect and receive blessings from them. Prayers are offered for a peaceful, prosperous, and favorable New Year.
Tadashige (sometimes erroneously transcribed as Tadayoshi) was a pupil of Tadatoshi of Nagoya. He earned the title of Hogen during his lifetime and is regarded by Neil Davey as the most celebrated of the Nagoya carvers, his work becoming infinitely more subtle and sophisticated than that of Tadatoshi.
Literature comparison:
For a closely related wood netsuke of two rats nibbling on a rice cake, by Tadashige, see Barry Davies Oriental Art, Netsuke from the Teddy Hahn Collection, London, 1996, pp. 88-89, no. 124.
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Reserve
Time, Location
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