Tabako-Ire and Kiseruzutsu

[Bob61]

Hello

 

First, thank you for letting my be a part of this great site. A little history, I have inherited a collection of various Japanese items and unfortunately am uneducated in this area of collecting. I am attaching my tabako-ire and kiseruzutsu to hopefully get a little more information on this. It looks to be signed? I am unsure of age, value and if the signature is known. I am hoping that someone on this forum will be able to enlighten me a little. Thank you very much.

 

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[drbvac]

Interesting item but may be outside the expertise of most of this group - that said I am sure there is at least one member who may be able to help you or send you to some other site that may. Just welcome from another Canuck and Happy Canada Day !!!

[Bugyotsuji]

It’s an interesting object, B Rae San. Often these were whimsical carvings by talented individuals who may be unknown otherwise, carving for themselves.

As you can see it is Daruma awakening from his long sleep, er… meditation, in the famous cave in the mountains on his way from India (dark skin) to China, all represented in striking natural materials.

Bamboo node? Wood burl? Ebony hands holding the strings as he yawns and stretches in that typical pose. (Incidentally acting as string guides.)

 

A fun object to own, and you have the pleasure of a) further chasing down exactly what materials the smoker/artist used, b) finding what the 又 Mata sign (or ヌ nu?)might refer to and c) sourcing a kiseru pipe of the correct length to clip neatly into the holder. My recommendation would be a silver one and better still if it has the pure silver mark 純銀 on it. Your set will look complete and wonderfully decorative. 

[Bugyotsuji]

PS Looking at Brian’s post above this reminded me. You could post this on the INS International Netsuké Society web site where you might get more feedback. There are experts in materials and creative subject matter there, but I sense you may never know who the artist was. (Speaking from experience, don’t get your hopes too high!) Good luck in the hunt!