netsuke

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Object Type
Museum number: 1945,1017.614
Description: Netsuke. Ubume holding Jizo. Made of boxwood. Signed.
Producer name
Cultures/periods
Production date: Early 20th century
Production place: Made in: Kyoto-fu
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Height: 10.50 centimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: Ubume is the ghost of a woman who has died in childbirth and cannot find peace as she worries about her child. Here she is holding in her arms a stone sculpture of the Bodhisattva Jizo (Sanskrit Ksitigarbha), a patron deity of children. This is one of two netsuke carved at the request of Oscar Charles Raphael (1874-1941) (please also see 1945,1017.530). (Tsuchiya, 2015)
Bibliographic references: Barker & Smith 1976 / Netsuke: The Miniature Sculpture of Japan (89); Edo BM 1982 / Edo: Art of Japan 17th-19th Century (192); Tsuchiya 2014 / Netsuke: 100 miniature masterpieces from Japan (pp.88-89)
Location: Not on display
Subjects: ghost; sculpture; bodhisattva
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1945
Department: Asia
Registration number: 1945,1017.614

Free entry