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SEIRYU: A SUPERB IVORY OKIMONO OF THE SANSUKUMI
奥地利
2023年06月16日 开拍 / 2023年06月14日 截止委托
此拍品禁止/限制出入境
拍品描述
SEIRYU: A SUPERB IVORY OKIMONO OF THE SANSUKUMI

By Seiryu, signed Seiryu to
Japan, Meiji period (1868-1912)

Superbly carved as a snake arching its long body and wrapping its tail around a frog standing foursquare upon the naturalistically carved base scattered with the remains of a broken broom and a straw hat, a snail slithering along, the snake with neatly incised scales and a fierce expression, its mouth open with the tongue protruding, the frog and snake’s eyes double-inlaid with mother-of-pearl and horn. The underside of the base incised with the signature SEIRYU to [carved by Seiryu] within an oval reserve.

HEIGHT 10 cm

Condition: Excellent condition with minor wear.

The combination of snake, frog, and snail (or slug) constitutes the sansukumi motif. Sansukumi translates to ‘the three who are afraid of one another’. The three animals are in a state of mutually assured destruction: the snake will consume the frog, however the frog has already eaten a poisonous snail, so the snake must perish as well. This motif is connected to sansukumi-ken, a category of Japanese hand games played by using three hand gestures. The oldest sansukumi-ken game is mushi-ken, a game originally from China. In mushi-ken, the ‘frog’ represented by the thumb wins against the ‘slug’ represented by the pinkie finger, which, in turn defeats the ‘snake’ represented by the index finger, which wins against the ‘frog’. Although this game was imported from China, the Japanese version differs in the animals represented. In adopting the game, the original Chinese characters for centipede or millipede were apparently confused with the characters for the ‘slug’. The centipede was chosen because of the Chinese belief that the centipede was capable of killing a snake by climbing and entering its head. One of the few surviving sansukumi-ken games is jan-ken, which was brought to the West in the 20th century as rock paper scissors.

Auction comparison:
Compare a related larger ivory okimono of a dragon and its young by Seiryu, 22.8 cm long, at Christie’s, 19 September 2000, New York, lot 27 (sold for 18,800 USD).

Trade Certificate: The trade certificate for the sale of this lot within the EU has been granted (permit number AT 23-B-0120).



This item contains ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell, and/or some types of tropical wood and is subject to CITES when exporting outside the EU. It is typically not possible to export such items outside of the EU, including to the UK. Therefore, after this item has the necessary trade certificate, it can only be shipped within the EU or picked up in our gallery in person.

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价格信息

拍品估价:3,000 - 6,000 欧元 起拍价格:3,000 欧元  买家佣金: 35.00%

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