Netsuke

Museum number:

9-7945

Permalink:

ark:/21549/hm21090007945

Alternate number:

3-105 (original number), 4-232 (original number), and 5-209 (original number)

Accession number:

Acc.2384

Description:

netsuke: kagami-buta form. man offering sword to God of waves. God seated in stylized wave pattern. 5.8 cm. dia. Casing is cracked

Donor:

Estate of Geraldine C. and Kernan Robson

Collection place:

Japan

Culture or time period:

Japanese

Collector:

Geraldine C. Robson

Collection date:

before 1940

Materials:

Ivory (material) and Metal

Object type:

ethnography

Object class:

Netsukes

Function:

2.2 Personal Adornments and Accoutrements

Accession date:

1968

Context of use:

Toggle to be attached to the end of a cord and thrust through the sash of a kimono for the support of a purse, pouch or lacquer box.

Department:

Asia (except western Russia)

Dimensions:

diameter 5.8 centimeters

Comment:

Per Robeson Accession Notebook: Large netsuke in dark wood of tall, epic man with super-man expression [?], and radical eyebrows [??], a sun hat, an arrow in hand and a quiver on his back. Depicts the great archer Yi. Yao, the legendary emporer, had two daughters whom he gave to Shun (also a legendary emporer) in wedlock. Yao had the right to name his successor and had his eye on Shun for a long time, but to certify him he gave him his two daughters, saying that if he could live happily with two wives, he would rule a kingdom. This Sun did and everything was divinely o.k.!! [?] One of Shun's wives gave birth to ten sons, who were also suns. Nine of the sons played under the mulberry tree and one remained in heaven. At one time, however, the ten sons took it into their heads to shine in the sky at the same time, and the people on earth dropped dead from the heat. There was nothing to do but summon Yi and have him use his good arrows to shoot down nine of the sons who turned into black ravens as soon as the touched the earth. This is supposed to refer to some terriably hot time, chronicled in China, and the ravens are the sun spots. Yi's wife stole a cup from Yi. This cup of jade, given to him by Hsi Wang Mu, in gratitude for the great good he had done for man in shooting down the sons. His wife fled with the cup to the moon, where she was instantly transformed into a frog; hence, the frog that is seen in the moon. He name is Ch'ang N'go.

Loans:

S1970-1971 #41: Department of Art History (UC Berkeley)/Colette Biane (November 3, 1970–November 3, 1970)

Legacy documentation: