Shunga Netsuke of a Sleeping Mermaid Embraced by an Octopus, Mammoth Tusk
Shunga Netsuke of a Sleeping Mermaid Embraced by an Octopus, Mammoth Tusk
- Dispatch
- Prepared and sent from Tokyo within 7–14 days, often sooner, or as arranged
- Arrival
- Vereinigte Staaten · usually 4–7 days after dispatch, insured and tracked Check the Shipping Flowchart here
- Import
Duties and customs · View the estimate
A guide for this piece: about $118, based on the 10% US charge on the declared value of goods made in Japan.
The final figure is set by US Customs and depends on where the piece was made and the kind of object it is. Many antiques over a century old carry no ordinary duty; most jewellery and leather goods add a single-digit rate.
With EMS, any charge is collected by your postal service on delivery. For pieces of significant value we can often arrange duties prepaid before dispatch.
How the estimate is reached · Ask for a figure on this piece
- Character
- Ornate 7.5 of 10 ·
- Replies
- Within one Tokyo business day · Ask the curator team
- Guarantee
- Authenticity guaranteed · How we grade
| Figure | cm | in |
|---|---|---|
| Width | 5.1 cm | 2.0 in |
| Height | 2.7 cm | 1.1 in |
| Depth | 2.5 cm | 1.0 in |
Every piece is measured by hand, in centimetres as Japan measures. Please allow 1–2 cm (about ½ inch) for the give of the material and the hand that held the tape.
Where each figure is taken · View the plate
Object, sculpture and ceramics
Condition report
Very Good
- Giftable
- Mint
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Honest Wear
- As Found
The Dream beneath the Water
Hokusai's octopus is the single image by which the world knows Japanese erotic art. This is its quiet, sculptural descendant.
Best for: Collectors of Hokusai-inspired imagery and sea-creature netsuke
Condition notes
Light marks of handling and age. Staining and ink engraving are bright, and the polish is even.
Grades, ratings and commentary are given to the best of our ability, knowledge and experience, and condition remains partly a matter of personal perception. What we stand behind without qualification is authenticity, truthful description and provenance, to the best of our knowledge. How we grade
Verfügbarkeit für Abholungen konnte nicht geladen werden
All sales are final. Please read our refund policy before purchase.
Considered offers only. The Desk replies personally to figures made in good faith; those set far below the asking price receive no reply.
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A mermaid asleep on her folded arm, her scaled tail curling behind her, while an octopus settles over her like a cloak.
This piece belongs to the private room of the house and is shown to adults only.
The Piece
The mermaid, or ningyo, is unclothed to the waist with her long hair inked grey and spread beneath her. Her tail is engraved scale by scale and ends in a split fin. The octopus is carved large and soft, its round eyes pierced, its arms lying along her back. Light marks of handling are noted.
From below one sees the suckered arms and the fin worked in openwork, with the cord passage between them.
Iconography and Meaning
The image descends from the most celebrated of all shunga, Hokusai's print of 1814 known in the West as the Dream of the Fisherman's Wife, in which a diver is embraced by an octopus. Here the diver has become a mermaid, doubling the dream: a creature of the sea visited by another.
The Japanese name for the pleasure such an object gives is te-zawari, the feel in the hand. A netsuke is meant to be turned, warmed and known by touch as much as by sight, and its surface will mellow with the years to the soft tone collectors call patina, the gentle beauty of use that the aesthetics of wabi and sabi hold dear.
Details
- Type: Katabori netsuke, carved in the round
- Subject: Sleeping mermaid with an octopus
- Material: Woolly mammoth tusk
- Technique: Hand carving, staining and ink engraving
- Colour: Ivory white with grey and soft brown
- Length: 51 mm (2.0 in)
- Width: 25 mm (1.0 in)
- Height: 27 mm (1.1 in)
- Period: Contemporary, in the classical tradition
- Made in: Japan
Measured by hand; please allow a gentle margin of about 1 to 2 mm.
Condition
- Light marks of handling and age are present; the Desk will send close photographs of any area on request.
- Staining and ink engraving are bright, and the polish is even.
- Every photograph is part of the description.
Condition grade B (good, light wear) on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.
Authenticity & Care
Carved by hand in Japan from the tusk of the woolly mammoth, an extinct species whose fossil tusk is not elephant ivory and is not listed under CITES. It is a contemporary work in the classical tradition, examined and photographed in Japan before dispatch. Rules on mammoth tusk differ between countries and, in the United States, between states; please confirm that it may be received at your address before you buy. Keep away from direct sun, dry heat and sudden changes of humidity, and handle with clean dry hands.
Delivery from Japan
Wrapped by hand in Japan in soft tissue and a rigid case, and shipped insured and tracked by EMS or an equivalent express service. Import duties and taxes, where applicable, are payable on arrival. Every sale is final; please ask anything you wish to know before you buy, and see our published policy.
Considered offers are welcome through Send an Offer, and each one is reviewed personally. Further pieces of the kind are kept in Shunga and Hidden Arts and in the wider room of Netsuke, Sagemono and Inro.
Concierge
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Collectors also search: shunga netsuke, sleeping mermaid and octopus · mammoth tusk netsuke from Japan · hokusai netsuke
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