48 - Ɏ AN EXCEPTIONAL AND RARE MARINE TUSK NETSUKE OF AN UBUME WITH CHILD

Ɏ AN EXCEPTIONAL AND RARE MARINE TUSK NETSUKE OF AN UBUME WITH CHILD Unsigned Japan, 18 th-19 th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Boldly carved from a dense, heavy section of marine tusk as Ubume, the ghostly mother, standing in flowing robes and clutching a grotesque infant tightly to her breast. Her long hair falls in thick strands over the shoulders, framing a broad, unsettling smile and deeply cut features. The child is rendered with bulging eyes, a gaping mouth, and exposed teeth, its limbs wrapped around the mother's body to form a tightly interlocked composition. Very large, asymmetrical himotoshi. The pronounced natural grain and warm honey tone of the marine tusk are skillfully incorporated into the carving, while the unusual scale and considerable weight lend the netsuke a striking presence in the hand. HEIGHT 10.5 cm WEIGHT 102.3 g Provenance: From a noted German private collection, Munich, Germany. Condition: Very good condition with old wear and several material-inherent age cracks. The ubume is one of the most enduring maternal ghosts of Japanese folklore. Her legend reaches back at least to the late Heian-period Konjaku monogatari shu, which recounts an encounter between Urabe no Suetake and an ubume who asks him to carry her child. By the Edo period, the image had become graphically fixed in illustrated yokai compendia, most famously Toriyama Sekien's Gazu hyakki yagyo of 1776, where the disheveled ghost appears clutching an infant to her breast. The present carving gives this established mother-and-child image an unusually visceral form: the monumental scale, heavy marine tusk, and demon-like physiognomy of the infant transform a familiar ghost story into a particularly arresting netsuke. Literature comparison: Compare a related wood netsuke of the same unusual subject by Yosui, likely carved from the same source image, dated to the 19th century, 5.3 cm high, illustrated in Jirka-Schmitz, Patrizia, The World of Netsuke - The Werdelmann Collection at the Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, no. 286. This item contains ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell, and/or some types of tropical wood and is subject to CITES when exporting outside the EU. It is typically not possible to export such items outside of the EU, including to the UK. Therefore, after this item has the necessary trade certificate, it can only be shipped within the EU or picked up in our gallery in person.