66 - A CHARMING SAISHIKI NETSUKE OF GAMA SENNIN WITH A TOAD, STYLE OF YOSHIMURA SHUZAN

A CHARMING SAISHIKI NETSUKE OF GAMA SENNIN WITH A TOAD, STYLE OF YOSHIMURA SHUZAN Style of Yoshimura Shuzan, unsigned Japan, late 18 th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Published: Barry Davies Oriental Art (1994), The Netsuke Collection of W. G. Bosshard, Part 1, no. 95. Boldly carved from hinoki (cypress) wood and painted in gesso with polychrome pigments, depicting Gama Sennin seated with his large toad crawling into his lap. The immortal is rendered with a broad, jovial grin, his features boldly modeled, and his short hair neatly incised in parallel strands. One arm is raised beside his head while the other is bent forward, his voluminous robes gathering in deeply carved folds around the bent legs. Himotoshi through the back and underside. HEIGHT 4 cm Provenance: W. G. Bosshard Collection, Switzerland. With Barry Davies Oriental Art, London, November 1994. From a noted French private collection, acquired from the above. Condition: Good condition with expected wear, obvious flaking to pigments and tiny nicks here and there. Yoshimura Shuzan (d. 1776) was a Kano school painter who received the honorary title hogen. He is particularly celebrated for his painted netsuke, typically carved from hinoki wood and left unsigned. The present netsuke, carved in hinoki and conceived in a manner consistent with Shuzan’s established aesthetic, reflects many of the characteristics associated with the master. Nevertheless, it is more cautiously regarded as the work of a follower or an artist working in his style in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related saishiki netsuke of a toad sennin, by Yoshimura Shuzan, in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Arakawa, Hirokazu (1983) The Go Collection of Netsuke, p. 24-25, no. 22-23.