49 - Ɏ A RARE IVORY NETSUKE OF A FOREIGN DEVIL, SOKEN KISHO TYPE

Ɏ A RARE IVORY NETSUKE OF A FOREIGN DEVIL, SOKEN KISHO TYPE Unsigned Japan, 18 th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Published: Misao Mikoshiba and Raymond Bushell (1980), Netsuke and The Soken Kisho, Arts of Asia, p. 105. Finely carved from the tip of the tusk, the design derived from a Malayan kris handle, depicting a foreign devil seated upon a circular crosshatched base, his knees drawn sharply upward and his bare feet splayed beneath a long cloth falling between the legs. The striking face is modeled with large staring eyes, sharply arched brows, a broad upturned nose, pierced ears, and a grinning mouth revealing teeth, all framed by long, straight locks of hair and a pointed beard. One hand is raised to his ear while the other grasps the end of his beard, lending the figure a wonderfully animated and enigmatic expression. Large himotoshi through the back and underside. The ivory bearing an attractive warm patina. HEIGHT 6.4 cm Provenance: Ex-collection Cornelius V. S. Roosevelt. Sotheby’s, The Cornelius V. S. Roosevelt Collection of Netsuke, 2 June 1992, lot 127. Ex-collection Raymond and Frances Bushell, acquired from the above. Sotheby’s, Netsuke from the Collection of Raymond and Frances Bushell, 18 November 1999, London, lot 104. From a noted French private collection, acquired from the above. Cornelius Van Schaack Roosevelt III (1915–1991), grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, was an American intelligence officer and business executive, educated at Harvard and MIT, and later served in the CIA. A keen collector, he amassed an important collection of Japanese netsuke. Condition: Excellent condition with minor wear. The present netsuke represents a fascinating and rare instance of the transmission of Southeast Asian imagery into Japanese netsuke carving. Its unusual figure derives from the figural handles of the kris, the characteristic dagger of the Malay-Indonesian world. Such handles evidently reached Japan and provided models for a small and distinctive group of early netsuke depicting strange foreign demons and fantastic beings. Related designs were subsequently absorbed into the Japanese netsuke repertoire and appear among the carvings associated with Yoshimura Shuzan in the Soken Kisho of 1781. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related whale tooth netsuke in Bushell, Raymond (1975) Netsuke Familiar & Unfamiliar, no. 667. Trade Certificate: In accordance with new EU regulations that went into effect in January 2022, we have applied for a certificate to sell this item within the EU. We expect the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology to issue the certificate in 2-3 weeks. The item can only be shipped / handed over once the certificate has been issued. 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.