AN IVORY NETSUKE OF A FISHER GIRL AND OCTOPUS ON A GIANT AWABI
Ivory netsukeJapan19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)This netsuke depicts an ama, a diving and fisher girl, lying over a giant awabi, or ear shell. She is wearing only a loincloth; her pulsating body is finely carved, with lively yet subtle facial features. The tentacle of a tako, trapped in the shell, are wriggling around one of her ankles and one of her feet. When following the tentacle to the other side, one can see the large octopus which holds one tentacle, which forms the himotoshi, to its head with a somewhat shameful expression. The word “Tako” sounds like “Great Fortune”, which is apparently on the ama’s side.WIDTH 5.5 CMCondition: Very good condition; perhaps one little nick or imperfection to the right index finger of the ama. Very appealing honey patina on the underside.Provenance: French private collectionLiterature: For a very similar netsuke by Nobusada and likely by the same circle of hands see `Japanische Meisterwerke der Netsuke Kunst, Wolfmar Zacken’, 1993, Vienna, no. 29.