Antique
Japanese Ittobori Wood Netsuke Tea
Picker Uji
Ningyo Signature: Gyuka (kakihan). Circa: 19th
Century Recorded
in The Netsuke Handbook of Ueda Reikichi #167 H.
1.5 in.(3.5cm), W. 1 in.(2.5cm), D. 0.75 in.(2cm)
Paint loss, o.a. in good condition! Carved
tea wood in the ittobori saishiki style and painted in polychrome. This doll-like
tea picker is imbued with charms of a farm girl in the 19th century feudal Japan.
The light wood has since darkened into an earth tone patina, tinting much of the
once vibrant colors with a sepia brown. The lightly worn kakihan on the base remains
legible.
Private Collection
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According to an unusually detailed record in The Netsuke Handbook. Gyuka
was born in 1801, entered the Mitsu-ji Monastery early on, and served as a family
priest for an imperial family. Then later he resigned from the priesthood to become
a painter, and appointed by the shogun to be the successor of the tea master Kamibayashi
of Uji. In 1843, The Lord of Ise and magistrate of Kyoto requested Gyuka to create
a souvenir of Uji, Gyuka carved from seasoned tea wood a doll netsuke tea picker
and presented it to the shogun. Thereafter several daimyo requested the same subject
for them; and
so forth the descendent
of the Gyuka family became known as the makers
Uji dolls.
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