Project Description
Boxwood Netsuke of Ryujin’s Assistant by Tametaka
Dressed in a sarong, the otherworldly figure stands in servile pose, with head bowed, and holding the tide ruling tama in both hands before him. A slender dragon clings to his back with its head resting on his, the gap between it and the servant providing a natural himotoshi
Engraved signature on the left foot: Tametaka with kaō. Nagoya, 1800-1820
Height: 7.3 cm
Provenance:
S. Bing, Paris
A. Brockhaus, Leipzig, bought from the above in 1898
Private collection, Germany
Sale, Klefisch Cologne, 23rd May 1981, lot 3
Sale, Klefisch Cologne, 9th December 2006, lot 35
J. Vappereau
Sold at his anonymous sale, idem, 4th November 2020, lot 8
Where bought by the present vendor
Literature:
Brockhaus, ‘Netsuke’, p.319, no. 290, listed as being by Toyotama Hiko
JINCS, 9/2, p.11, sale report of the 1981 sale at Klefisch, illustrated
Exhibition catalogue, Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, ‘Netsuke, Inro u.a. Sagemono’, 1982-83, no. pp. 71-72, no H/2, illustrated
The model is no doubt based on a presumably saishiki netsuke by Yoshimura Shuzan, illustrated with an engraved drawing in the Sōken Kishō, most easily found in Lazarnick’s ‘Netsuke and Inro Artists …’, p. 52. Fuld lists 3 Ryujin by Tametaka, one being the present example, another from the Mander collection at Sotheby’s London, 12th February 1930, lot 116 (not illustrated). Unfortunately it is not recorded whether this was a standing or seated figure. The third belonged to Raymond Bushell and is illustrated in the Christie’s London catalogue of his collection, October 1984, no. 12. There is a fourth, probably earlier, but not as fine, in the Go collection, Tokyo National Museum (illustrated in Arakawa, pp. 28-29, figs. 29-30). As I have written before, there is much confusion between the identification of Ryujin and his assistant. I would argue that Bushell’s figure is the god himself, and that the present netsuke, judging from the servile attitude, represents his servant. While I worked at Sydney Moss, we were lucky enough to purchase from Christie’s sale of the Flower netsuke, a slightly smaller standing variant, darker in colour and marginally more mouvementé (‘One Hundred Years of Beatitude’, no. 39). The auctioneers had not noticed the signature on one foot. Perhaps it was the Mander version, but we may never know
MR5354
