Netsuke, carved hinoki wood emaciated foreigner, Japan, 18th century

A POWERFUL AND LARGE SAISHIKI NETSUKE OF AN EMACIATED FOREIGNER, ATTRIBUTED TO YOSHIMURA SHUZAN Attributed to Yoshimura Shuzan (d. 1776), unsigned Japan, Osaka, 18th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Published: Noetzel, Otto Heinrich (2001) Netsuke. Geschichte, Meister, Motive, Wilhelmshaven, no. 121.

Boldly carved from hinoki (cypress) wood and painted in gesso with polychrome pigments, depicting a tall, dramatically emaciated foreigner, whom Noetzel tentatively identified as from the Sunda Islands, standing with his shod feet closely set together, the attenuated body subtly twisted and the head turned sharply to the left. His gaunt face is contorted into an extraordinary grimace, with deeply furrowed brows, prominent cheekbones, and a broad nose above the wide-open mouth revealing individually carved teeth and a red-painted tongue. The emaciation is carried through the partly exposed torso, with the ribs and musculature boldly delineated beneath the skin.

A loose robe envelops the lower body in deeply carved, sweeping folds, retaining extensive traces of the original polychrome decoration. Slung diagonally across the back is a sword in a finely carved fish-shaped scabbard. Large himotoshi to the back, connected by a long, deeply excavated cord channel. HEIGHT 10.8 cm Provenance: Collection Otto Heinrich Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven, the Netherlands, and thence by descent in the family. Otto Heinrich Noetzel (1909-1987) was a German publisher, netsuke collector, and author. Based in Wilhelmshaven, he headed the long-established Heinrichshofen publishing house and developed a scholarly interest in Japanese netsuke. He authored the important survey Netsuke.

Geschichte, Meister, Motive, first published in 1981, as well as the specialized study Yakimono-Netsuke. Netsuke aus Porzellan und Ton, published in 1985. Works from his collection were also illustrated in his publications. Areas of the original coloring remain remarkably well preserved. Yoshimura Shuzan (d. 1776) was a celebrated Osaka painter of the Kano school who received the honorary Buddhist title hogen and occupies a seminal position in the history of netsuke. He is particularly associated with large, boldly carved figures in hinoki wood covered with gesso and brilliant polychrome pigments.

Shuzan did not sign his netsuke, making individual attributions inherently difficult, particularly as his distinctive manner was already imitated during the eighteenth century. Significantly, the Soken Kisho of 1781 places Shuzan first among the carvers it records and reproduces thirteen examples of his work. The present netsuke displays many of the characteristics traditionally associated with Shuzan’s finest saishiki figures: the unusually large scale, elongated proportions, dramatic bodily movement, exaggerated physiognomy, deeply modeled drapery, and vigorous treatment of the exposed anatomy.

Particularly striking is the preservation of substantial areas of the original polychromy, which heightens the theatrical intensity of the figure. The fish-shaped sword scabbard provides a further distinctive parallel with other Shuzan-type representations of immortals and Ryujin. Museum comparison: Compare a closely related wood saishiki netsuke, also attributed to Yoshiumura Shuzan, 11 cm high, dated 18th century, in the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, accession no. F1904.409.