Fine
quality classic netsuke; very small in size, compact and designed for use. Beautifully
carved in cream to light gold ivory with markings and striations, a superb surface
with age patina and age cracks, engraving with sumi; worn to a glossy finish from
long years of handling. Depicting the immortal Rakan Binzuru with a sleeping tiger.
Binzuru
(Sanskrit: Pindola), called the Taming Tiger Rakan, was a Brahmin general who
renounced his station to enter a monastery. The monastery was located in the remote
mountains, where every day Binzuru heard a tiger howling. Thinking the hungry
tiger might be coaxed to eat vegetables and give up his habit of killing, Binzuru
collected food from the monks and put it in a bucket which he left outside. Eventually
the tiger came every night for the food, and thus he was tamed, showing that even
innate instinct may be subdued with compassion.
