232 - KEIKOKU: A FINE WOOD NETSUKE OF THE BAMBOO CUTTER AND PRINCESS KAGUYA AS A BABY

KEIKOKU: A FINE WOOD NETSUKE OF THE BAMBOO CUTTER AND PRINCESS KAGUYA AS A BABY By Keikoku, signed Keikoku 溪谷 Japan, Tokyo, Meiji period (1868-1912) Finely carved as the elderly bamboo cutter seated with one knee raised, tenderly cradling the infant Princess Kaguya in both hands. He leans forward with an affectionate smile, his sensitively modeled face marked by deeply incised wrinkles and prominent cheekbones beneath a cloth cap. The tiny princess gazes joyfully upward from within her tightly wrapped swaddling clothes, her plump face animated by rounded cheeks and a broad smile. The garments are richly detailed with neatly incised geometric patterns, including the diapered design covering Kaguya’s swaddling clothes and the bamboo cutter’s trousers. Himotoshi to the back and signed KEIKOKU – a carver affiliated with the famous Suzuki Tokoku (1846-1913). HEIGHT 3.7 cm Condition: Excellent condition with minor wear. The subject derives from Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter), Japan’s earliest surviving work of prose fiction. It tells of the elderly bamboo cutter Taketori no Okina, who discovers a tiny, radiant girl inside a glowing bamboo stalk and raises her as Kaguya-hime. She later reveals her celestial origin and returns to the moon. The present netsuke captures the tender beginning of the tale, with the bamboo cutter cradling the miraculous infant. Auction comparison: Compare a related wood netsuke of the old man from the Taketori Monogatari with a baby, by Tokoku, 3.5 cm high, at Sotheby’s, The Betty Jahss Collection of Netsuke – Part I, 13 June 1991, London, lot 47 (sold for GBP 3,000 or approx. EUR 8,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).