Netsuke

Museum number:

9-7917

Permalink:

ark:/21549/hm21090007917

Alternate number:

3-14a (original number), 4-109 (original number), and 5-72 (original number)

Accession number:

Acc.2384

Object count:

1

Description:

Netsuke: two figures in boat with awning. Man in front, seated, is drinking tea. Pot is on stand. 2.6 cm. According to the donor's catalog: "Netsuke in dark brown ivory, of a boat, carrying two men—the boat has an awning and the larger man, in front serving tea. He is Su T'ung p'o or Su Shih, 1036 to 1101. He was the most famous of the Sung poets, was a brilliant scholar, a noted philosopher, who came through the ordinary channels of state examinations, spent much of his life in the employment of the government and penned essays as well as his previously noted poetry. In [Herbert] Giles, "History of Chinese Literature", the poem he wrote that illustrates this netsuke may be found. It is an excellent poem—and I earnestly advise the reader to look it up. So Sai did this netsuke-- one of five famous octogenarian netsuke makers, who came down to our day. He died later in the war (1945). The price of this netsuke was $135. The Chinese were exceedingly proud of Su Shih.

Donor:

Estate of Geraldine C. and Kernan Robson

Collection place:

Japan

Culture or time period:

Shōwa era (1926-1989)

Maker or artist:

Sosai

Collector:

Geraldine C. Robson

Collection date:

before 1940

Materials:

Ivory (material)

Person depicted:

Su Shi

Object type:

ethnography

Function:

2.2 Personal Adornments and Accoutrements

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 2.6 centimeters

Legacy documentation: