Netsuke, ivory hakutaku, Osaka, 19th century

The compact bovine body is powerfully modeled with broad shoulders and swelling haunches, its surface densely worked with finely incised hair heightened by masterful. The broad head is particularly expressive, with a pronounced snout, deeply flared nostrils, slightly parted mouth, the many eyes inlaid in dark horn,.

The long, bushy tail sweeps upward and curls tightly over the back, completing the pleasingly rounded composition. recalling the technical sophistication associated with such masters as Ohara Mitsuhiro and his circle. Himotoshi to the underside and signed within an oval reserve MASAKAZU. LENGTH 3.5 cm Provenance: From a noted French private collection. Masakazu was an Osaka carver and pupil of Hidemasa, working within a tradition that had reached an extraordinary degree of technical refinement by the later 19th century. The present netsuke exemplifies this mature Osaka aesthetic in its compact sculptural conception, finely worked surface, and sophisticated use of contrasting horn inlays.

Such effects inevitably recall the celebrated works of Ohara Mitsuhiro and related Osaka masters, whose virtuoso treatment of ivory exerted a lasting influence upon subsequent generations of carvers. The hakutaku, known in China as bai ze, is a mythical creature famed for its extraordinary intelligence and complete knowledge of the supernatural world. It was believed capable of identifying innumerable spirits and demons and consequently came to be regarded as a powerful protector against disease and misfortune. In Japanese imagery, the creature typically assumes a bovine form furnished with three eyes on the face, three on each flank, and four horns, an arrangement faithfully preserved in the present netsuke.

As Rosemary Bandini has demonstrated, the hakutaku was frequently confused in earlier Western netsuke literature with the kudan, a quite different Japanese chimera possessing the body of an ox and a human head. Earlier Japanese representations by artists including Hakuin and Katsushika Hokusai clearly establish the multi-eyed, horned creature as the hakutaku. Of particular interest is the close relationship between the present carving and Katsushika Hokusai’s celebrated depiction of a hakutaku. Masakazu follows the same fundamental conception: the creature stands foursquare upon its short legs, its compact body dominated by the large head, while the conspicuously bushy tail rises and curls across the back.

The correspondence is sufficiently close to suggest that Hokusai’s design, or a derivative of it, served as the model for the netsuke. Yet Masakazu translated the graphic prototype entirely into the language of Osaka carving, minute hairwork, and contrasting horn inlays.