Project Description
Wood Netsuke of Tekkai Sennin Attributed to Soshin
Standing on one foot as if walking, aided by his staff, on which he rests a hand and his chin. His tattered robes billow around his emaciated body and a gourd is attached to his belt. His mouth is closed tight in a grimace. His eyes are inlays of pale horn with dark pupils
Unsigned. Kansai, circa 1800
Height: 5.3 cm
Provenance:
Belgian collection
Information:
Compare with an almost identical netsuke in the Sydney L. Moss catalogue, ‘More Things in Heaven and Earth’, London 2006, pages 88-89, no 37. A variant, with open mouth and ivory inlaid teeth, was published in an article on Soshin by Jay Hopkins in the ‘International Netsuke Society Journal’, Vol. 30 No. 2 (Summer 2010), front cover and page 15. In this last there is a close up of the face, showing the distinctive hanging eyebrows.
MR3370