Antique
Japanese Ivory Netsuke
Skeleton
Snake Catcher
On
Large Skull
Signature: Soko. Circa: early 1900S'
h.
1.6 in.(4.1cm), w. 1.8 in.(4.6cm), d. 1.3 in.(3.3cm)
Condition: minor age cracks, o.a. very good! An
exquisite example of the highly original netsuke art that is the trademark of
Japanese carvers. Death is but a doorway. To be at peace with death means that
one is open to evolution, transformation and the enviable turning of the Wheel
of Life. In Buddhist tradition the Heart Sutra (the Prajnaparamita) speaks of
the essential emptiness of all things. Here life and death are but two sides of
the same coin. To understand this is an entry into the mystery and it is said
within this tradition our enlightenment. In this netsuke, three potent symbols
are fused together: the skull, the snake and the skeleton. To experience this
ivory is to immerse into masterful intricacy. A snake with highly detailed scales
emerges out of the base of the skull wrapping itself over and down. The eyes of
the snake, inset with black coral are nearly flickering the countenance, alive.
The skull itself has a highly detailed jaw, with minute indentations classically
sculpted teeth. The skeleton, which rides both the snake and the skull, has been
precisely carved through with rib cage fully articulated. The bony feet and hands
are graceful and stylistically ride the edge of realism and artistic interpretation.
This unique netsuke, signed by the artist Soko who is not recorded in our reference.
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Private Collection
| Who
are we at the moment of death? In Japan, the funerary rituals are accompanied
by a renaming of the deceased as part of the ritual of transition from one form
to the other. This Buddhist ceremony is called (kaimy). In Buddhism all matter,
all experience is understood to be ultimately ephemeral. To underline this point,
Japanese Buddhist funerary rites have family members transfer the cremated bones
of the diseased with chopsticks from a ceremonial tray into the funerary urn.
The bones of the feet are picked up first, and the bones of the head last. This
ivory skull netsuke reminds one of death's humor, persistence and egalitarianism.
(SD)
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