267 - HOKYO: A RARE KARAKURI (TRICK) NETSUKE OF A SAMBASO DANCER’S HEAD WITH MOVABLE TONGUE AND EYES

HOKYO: A RARE KARAKURI (TRICK) NETSUKE OF A SAMBASO DANCER’S HEAD WITH MOVABLE TONGUE AND EYES By Hokyo, signed Hokyo 芳響 kore (o) koku 刻之 Japan, late 19 th century, Meiji period (1868-1912) Published: Lazarnick, George (1981) Netsuke & Inro Artists, and How to Read Their Signatures, vol. 1, p. 486. Ingeniously carved as the smiling head of a Sambaso dancer wearing a tall, pointed eboshi, its dark surface deeply grooved with regular horizontal bands. The reddish-brown face is animated by boldly curling brows and facial hair, broad cheeks, flaring nostrils, and an open mouth revealing neatly delineated teeth. The large eyes are inlaid in pale horn with dark pupils and form part of the karakuri mechanism: a small lever fitted to the reverse simultaneously animates the eyes and causes the tongue to protrude from the mouth. Himotoshi to the back and signed HOKYO kore o koku [Hokyo carved this]. HEIGHT 6 cm Provenance: Formerly with Bernard Hurtig, published in a sale catalog in September 1978, no. 26 (the signature misread as Hosai). The back with an old lacquered inventory number, possibly indicating a museum, reading ’29-26-274’. Condition: Excellent condition with minor expected wear. The identity of Hokyo remains intriguing. The present work is remarkably close to mechanical carvings by Gyokumin, who favored Sambaso heads incorporating essentially the same playful mechanism of moving eyes and a protruding tongue. The close correspondence in subject, conception, and construction raises the possibility that Hokyo may have been a pseudonym used by Gyokumin, or alternatively a closely related carver working in the same tradition. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related wood netsuke with the same mechanism, by Gyokumin, illustrated in Hurtig, Bernard (1975) What’s new at Auctions, International Netsuke Collectors Society Journal no. 3, vol.3, p. 14, lot 55. Auction comparison: Compare a closely related mechanical wood sagemono set by Gyokumin, signed Gyokumin, including a 6.1 cm high netsuke of the same Sambaso subject incorporating the same lever-operated mechanism to animate the eyes and tongue, at Zacke, Fine Netsuke & Sagemono, 7 November 2025, Vienna, lot 63 (sold for EUR 7,800).