Netsuke

[Bugyotsuji]

Something to keep in your "younger" drawer or to wear without fear on certain occasions.

[Ed]

Guido, Thanks for clearing up any doubts I may have had. The group I knew were bad, the two wooden ones I had no idea on, so good to know where they fall.

 

Only a few more, so I will put them out here to see how they rate.

 

 

 

 

 

[Kai-Gunto]

Ivory skull , signed.

I bourght the inro from the artist, when I was in Japan.

[TETSUGENDO]

Kai-Gunto,

 

Can you tell us something about the artist?

 

StevenK

[Brian]

Ed,

I do like those 2 of yours. No idea if they are new or where they are made, but really charming either way. Hopefully someone can give some opinion on them

[Kai-Gunto]

Kai-Gunto,

 

Can you tell us something about the artist?

 

StevenK

No, sorry. Maybe someone here can read the kanji.

 

[Ed]

I like the skull.

[Bugyotsuji]

Does it say 進玉 on the skull? (The most important kanji is blurred.)

[SteveM]

More like 遊玉, but impossible to be sure without a clearer picture.

[Kai-Gunto]

More like 遊玉, but impossible to be sure without a clearer picture.

It looks like that, steve.

[Bugyotsuji]

Well, if that is what it is, Neil Davey records a Yugyoku 遊玉 signature on the figure of a skeleton.

[Bernard]

I don't know if this little makemono (4.5cm X 4cm) is a netsuke or an okimono. All the kanjis (?) are raised. I think that they were carved in "ukibori" technique.

 

Bernard D

[Bugyotsuji]

To me it looks like a Netsuke, to be strung round its 'waist' on the hyotan principle, though establishing its age might be difficult.

[TETSUGENDO]

Bernard-

Looks like a Netsuke to me as well. I agree with Bugyotsuji as to the means of attachment.  As far as date looks mid 19th C to me- no later than early Meiji.  It appears to be dark stained bpxwood?  Its a very interesting piece, very nicely carved, I like it very much.  Can you let me know the dimensions?

 

Steven K

[Bernard]

I think that it is boxwood. It is 4.5cm long. 

 

Bernard D

[TETSUGENDO]

Here is another-

 

Steven K

[Bugyotsuji]

Unusual to get black and white like that! (Stevie Wonder, ebony & Ivory?) I find such bean pods to be very satisfactory.

[TETSUGENDO]

Bugyotsuji- Glad you like it, me too, this piece makes me hungry!  Love how the Japanese celebrate all the things around them. Vegetable themes in western art are not very common.   

 

-Steven K

[Bugyotsuji]

Agreed. I found a Daikon Netsuke the other day. Not high art, but completely guileless. The stag antler material is starting to turn semi-translucent with age. Love it, but probably not worth much in the west.

 

I have noticed how even rich people here can offer each other ordinary fruit or vegetables such as a cabbage as a simple but joyful gift.

[TETSUGENDO]

Bugyotsuji- Love Daikon( HUNGY,AGAIN! ).  Many western collectors don't understand Netsuke at all.  To understand the subject without immersion in the Japanese aesthetic is impossible.  Could you post a picture of your Daikon? - I'd like to see it.  In reply to your last comment- " FOOD IS LOVE ".

 

Steven K

[Bugyotsuji]

Very crude, but I guess someone saw a daikon in the marble stone!

 

Length, 11cm.

[TETSUGENDO]

Piers- I see the appeal immediately.  It has the charm of the spontaneous-  It simply IS.  The patina of of old Staghorn is hard to beat, mellow, translucent- lovely!  I would'nt call it crude... lets call it Mingei, or Mingei-esque.

 

StevenK