Netsuke, ivory. Japan, 19th cent.
A beloved story – the famous 11th cent. Chinese statesman Sima Guang (Japan. Shiba Onko) looks curiously with other boys into a deep pot of goldfish. One boy falls in, all run away screaming, while only Shiba takes a rock to make a hole in the vessel. The netsuke shows how the drowning boy was flushed out; the stone on the other side. Floral pattern on the pot, himotoshi running through, patina.
HEIGHT 3,55 CM
From a German collection