Netsuke

Museum number:

9-7538

Permalink:

ark:/21549/hm21090007538

Alternate number:

3-224 (original number), 4-391 (original number), and 5-368 (original number)

Accession number:

Acc.2384

Object count:

2

Description:

Netsuke in double manju (flat cake, bun) form, made of ivory. Depicts Sennin Kohaku, riding a crane, which is a symbol of longevity. The pine trees on the reverse also signify longevity. Signature is Kōsai, which gives this object a late date as the artist was known to be creating netsuke until 1877.

Donor:

Estate of Geraldine C. and Kernan Robson

Collection place:

Japan

Culture or time period:

Edo period (1603-1868) and Meiji era (1868-1912)

Maker or artist:

Kōsai

Collector:

Geraldine C. Robson

Collection date:

before 1940

Materials:

Ivory (material)

Person depicted:

Sennin Kohaku

Object type:

ethnography

Function:

2.2 Personal Adornments and Accoutrements

Production date:

1800-1877

Accession date:

1968

Context of use:

Toggle to be attached to the end of a cord and thrust through the sash of a kimono for the support of a purse, pouch or lacquer box.

Department:

Cat. 9 - Asia (incl. Russia east of Urals)

Dimensions:

height 4.4 centimeters

Comment:

Per Robeson Accession: Manju, a form of Netsuke, shaped like a tea biscuit. That is to say, round and somewhat thick. This manju, in ivory with subject engraved in brown, of a man riding on a crane with a Sho (a wind instrument) with a ribbon attached. Depicts Oshikio, a Chinese Sennin, who lived in Chou Dynasty circa 570 BC. He was fond of playing the Sho to the tune of the phoenix. He was taken by a fairy, to the summit of a mountain. After 30 years, he met a man, whom he told to inform his family that he would appear to them on the summit of Mt. Ko, where they found hum on the appointed day, riding on a white crane. He left a prescription for an elixir whose main ingredient was chrysanthemum shoots, gathered :on the day of the Tiger"in the third month. See Joly, Oshikio, under "Rishis.

Legacy documentation: