TETSURO: A LACQUERED WOOD GIGAKU MASK NETSUKE OF SHISHIKO
TETSURO: A LACQUERED WOOD GIGAKU MASK NETSUKE OF SHISHIKO
By Ichikawa Tetsuro, signed Tetsuro 鉄琅 to 刀 with kakihan
Japan, Nara, late 19th to early 20th century
Finely carved, painted and lacquered as a mask depicting the face of a jubilant young boy with slender, hollowed eyes under arched brows, pierced nostrils, full lips forming a gentle smile, and chubby cheeks, all flanked by ears with pendulous lobes. His short hair is fashioned as an ancient Chinese children's hairstyle. The himotoshi bar to the reverse signed TETSURO and kakihan.
HEIGHT 4.7 cm
Condition: Very good condition with minor and simulated wear. Some expected flaking to polychrome pigments and lacquer.
Provenance: Christie's, Japanese Art and Design including Arts of the Samurai, 9 June 2004, London, lot 224. European collection P. Jacquesson, acquired from the above.
With a wood tomobako inscribed to the cover, 'Netsuke, gigakumen' [A Gigaku mask netsuke] and the verso, 'Nanto sanroku Saisho Shoja ni oite, Tetsuro' [Made by Tetsuro at the Saisho Shoja Studio, located at the foot of the (Mount Kasuga) mountain, in Nara].
Ichikawa Tetsuro was a student of Kano Tessai in Nara. Like his teacher, he engaged in the reproductions of old objects of art, such as the present lot. Tessai in particular made mask netsuke copied from the Gigaku masks within the Shoso-in repository, where around 225 examples are preserved representing 15 different roles.
Shishiko literally means a lion (shishi) and a child (ko), referring to the boy who leads a lion at the beginning of the Gigaku procession.
Bid on this lot
Estimate
Reserve
Time, Location
Auction House
TETSURO: A LACQUERED WOOD GIGAKU MASK NETSUKE OF SHISHIKO
By Ichikawa Tetsuro, signed Tetsuro 鉄琅 to 刀 with kakihan
Japan, Nara, late 19th to early 20th century
Finely carved, painted and lacquered as a mask depicting the face of a jubilant young boy with slender, hollowed eyes under arched brows, pierced nostrils, full lips forming a gentle smile, and chubby cheeks, all flanked by ears with pendulous lobes. His short hair is fashioned as an ancient Chinese children's hairstyle. The himotoshi bar to the reverse signed TETSURO and kakihan.
HEIGHT 4.7 cm
Condition: Very good condition with minor and simulated wear. Some expected flaking to polychrome pigments and lacquer.
Provenance: Christie's, Japanese Art and Design including Arts of the Samurai, 9 June 2004, London, lot 224. European collection P. Jacquesson, acquired from the above.
With a wood tomobako inscribed to the cover, 'Netsuke, gigakumen' [A Gigaku mask netsuke] and the verso, 'Nanto sanroku Saisho Shoja ni oite, Tetsuro' [Made by Tetsuro at the Saisho Shoja Studio, located at the foot of the (Mount Kasuga) mountain, in Nara].
Ichikawa Tetsuro was a student of Kano Tessai in Nara. Like his teacher, he engaged in the reproductions of old objects of art, such as the present lot. Tessai in particular made mask netsuke copied from the Gigaku masks within the Shoso-in repository, where around 225 examples are preserved representing 15 different roles.
Shishiko literally means a lion (shishi) and a child (ko), referring to the boy who leads a lion at the beginning of the Gigaku procession.
Estimate
Reserve
Time, Location
Auction House
