Beschreibung:

Unsigned Japan, Osaka, 18th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Well carved and painted with polychrome gesso pigments. Standing upright, wearing a long flowing green robe tied with a red belt and a black official’s cap, the face with heavy-lidded eyes and full lips. Large, functional himotoshi through the back. HEIGHT 6.5 cm Condition: Very good condition with expected wear to pigments and few minor surface scratches. Provenance: Ex-collection Richard R. Silverman. Richard R. Silverman (1932-2019) was a renowned Asian art collector with one of the largest private collections of netsuke outside of Japan. He lived in Tokyo between 1964 and 1979 and began to collect netsuke there in 1968. Since the 1970s, he wrote and lectured about netsuke and was an Asian art consultant for Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Bonhams. His gift of 226 ceramic netsuke to the Toledo Museum of Art constitutes perhaps the largest public collection of these miniature clay sculptures in the world. After moving to California, Silverman became a member of the Far Eastern Art Council at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1984. In 1993, he joined LACMA’s Executive Board. He served on the board of directors for the International Society of Appraisers from 1986 to 1994 and served nine years as chair for the City of West Hollywood Fine Arts Commission. Richard Silverman was posthumously awarded the Order of the Rising Sun for his decades-long promotion of Japanese culture. Literature comparison: A related saishiki netsuke of a Chinese sage, signed Shuzan to the underside of one foot, is illustrated in Joly, Henri L. (1966) The W. L. Behrens Collection, Part 1, Netsuke, pl. XLIII, no. 3404. Auction comparison: Compare a related saishiki netsuke of a Mongolian archer, attributed to Yoshimura Shuzan, at Christie’s, Fine Netsuke and Inro from a Private American Collection Part 2, 25 October 1984, London, lot 111 (sold for 7,560 GBP). This is also illustrated in Bushell, Raymond (1971) Collectors’ Netsuke, p. 25, no. 3.