119 - A RARE PAINTED WOOD HARIKATA NETSUKE OF A COUPLE EMBRACING ON A HIBACHI, ATTRIBUTED TO KANO TESSAI

A RARE PAINTED WOOD HARIKATA NETSUKE OF A COUPLE EMBRACING ON A HIBACHI, ATTRIBUTED TO KANO TESSAI Attributed to Kano Tessai (1845-1925), unsigned Japan, Nara, late 19th to early 20th century, Meiji period (1868-1912) Of large, flattened harikata form, finely carved in wood and painted with polychrome pigments. Ingeniously conceived with a complementary figure to either face, one side depicting a woman wearing a loosely draped koshimaki (underskirt), the reverse showing a man clad only in a fundoshi (loincloth). Both are seated upon a base modeled as a charcoal brazier (hibachi), their elongated, highly stylized bodies cleverly conforming to the phallic outline of the carving. The compact arrangement of limbs, sweeping contours of the garments, and gently inclined heads lend the figures an intimate and subtly humorous character. The himotoshi are pierced through the man’s head. HEIGHT 12.8 cm Provenance: From a noted German private collection, Munich, Germany. Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and rubbing to pigments. Kano Tessai (1845-1925) came from a Gifu family and began his life as a Buddhist priest, while receiving instruction in carving from his father. He subsequently studied Chinese literature and drawing and became closely involved in the study and preservation of Japan’s ancient artistic traditions. His interest in archaic sculpture and historical objects eventually brought him to Nara, where he devoted himself to the study and reproduction of early Japanese works of art. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related painted wood harikata netsuke by the same artist, signed Tessai with kakihan, formerly in the Mary Louise O’Brien Collection, at Sotheby’s, Netsuke from the Collection of Mary Louise O’Brien, 17 September 1981, New York, lot 50. This signed example is of particular importance, providing the principal basis for the attribution to Tessai of the closely related unsigned examples of this distinctive model. Compare also a closely related lacquer and wood harikata netsuke of the same subject, unsigned, 12.2 cm high, illustrated in Davey, Neil K. (1974) Netsuke: A Comprehensive Study Based on the M.T. Hindson Collection, p. 416, no. 1233.